Null Hyacinthe Rigaud 
Perpignan 1659 - 1743 Paris 
Portrait of Cardinal André-H…
Description

Hyacinthe Rigaud Perpignan 1659 - 1743 Paris Portrait of Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury Oil on canvas, relined 81.5 x 63.5 cm, with frame 95 x 79.5 cm Hyacinthe Rigaud was an important French painter of the Baroque period. He showed exceptional talent from an early age and received formal training from his father, a modest portraitist. Rigaud's skills soon attracted the attention of influential patrons, establishing him as one of the most sought-after portrait painters in France. Rigaud's style was characterised by meticulous attention to detail, rich colours and magnificent compositions, reflecting the opulence and splendour of the French court. His portraits often depicted aristocrats, clergymen, and other prominent figures, whose stature and personality he captured with remarkable precision. One notable work is the portrait of Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury (Lodève 1653 - 1743 Paris). He was a French cardinal and prime minister who headed the government of King Louis XV from 1726 to 1743. Against a dark background, Cardinal Fleury is depicted in a white habit decorated with intricate details and complemented by a bright red cloak and headdress. He looks at the viewer with a warm smile that radiates confidence and wisdom and exudes a gentle authority. The voluminous robes worn by the cardinal emphasise his majestic aura and envelop him in an air of stately splendour. The skillful use of light and shadow gives the portrait depth and dimension as well as a sense of dynamism and vitality. This painting, an extremely high quality repetition of Rigaud's earlier work from 1730, now in the Wallace Collection (P130), by his own hand, is an example of the artist's mastery of portraiture and his ability to capture the essence of his subjects with unrivalled finesse. Through his artistry, Rigaud immortalises Cardinal Fleury and invites the viewer to contemplate the enduring legacy of this influential figure in French history.

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Hyacinthe Rigaud Perpignan 1659 - 1743 Paris Portrait of Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury Oil on canvas, relined 81.5 x 63.5 cm, with frame 95 x 79.5 cm Hyacinthe Rigaud was an important French painter of the Baroque period. He showed exceptional talent from an early age and received formal training from his father, a modest portraitist. Rigaud's skills soon attracted the attention of influential patrons, establishing him as one of the most sought-after portrait painters in France. Rigaud's style was characterised by meticulous attention to detail, rich colours and magnificent compositions, reflecting the opulence and splendour of the French court. His portraits often depicted aristocrats, clergymen, and other prominent figures, whose stature and personality he captured with remarkable precision. One notable work is the portrait of Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury (Lodève 1653 - 1743 Paris). He was a French cardinal and prime minister who headed the government of King Louis XV from 1726 to 1743. Against a dark background, Cardinal Fleury is depicted in a white habit decorated with intricate details and complemented by a bright red cloak and headdress. He looks at the viewer with a warm smile that radiates confidence and wisdom and exudes a gentle authority. The voluminous robes worn by the cardinal emphasise his majestic aura and envelop him in an air of stately splendour. The skillful use of light and shadow gives the portrait depth and dimension as well as a sense of dynamism and vitality. This painting, an extremely high quality repetition of Rigaud's earlier work from 1730, now in the Wallace Collection (P130), by his own hand, is an example of the artist's mastery of portraiture and his ability to capture the essence of his subjects with unrivalled finesse. Through his artistry, Rigaud immortalises Cardinal Fleury and invites the viewer to contemplate the enduring legacy of this influential figure in French history.

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Jean Baptiste PATER (Valenciennes 1695 - Paris 1736) Artist's presumed self-portrait Canvas 82 x 65 cm (old restorations and scratches) Old sales label on reverse of stretcher Bibliography: another version by Florence Ingersoll-Smouse, Pater, Paris, 1928, p.81, no. 551, repr. p.195, ill. 172. This painting revives the question of the portraits occasionally painted by painters renowned for their gallant scenes. gallant scenes. Their place in the work of Antoine Watteau, Pater's master, is wide open and still debated. debated. The Portrait d'un gentilhomme, said to be by Jean de Jullienne (Musée du Louvre), is generally considered to be as autograph, unlike the Portrait dit d'Antoine Pater, sculptor and father of the painter, which has been refused (Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts). Florence Ingersoll-Smouse, in her 1928 monograph on Pater, lists a dozen portraits reported in early sales, or that of his sister Marie-Marguerite Pater (Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts), documented in the model's will in 1769. For our composition, the Portrait presumed to be by the painter in his thirtieth year, is catalogued as "attributed to Pater", the version in the Alvin-Beaumont collection in Paris, and lists as a copy the one then held at the Société d'agriculture, de sciences et des arts de Valenciennes, now in the museum. It is on this canvas that the traditional traditional identification of the model. We propose to consider our canvas as the original. The artist is dressed in black, perhaps be interpreted as mourning the death of his master in 1721. He presents himself as a history painter holding a drawing board and a red-tipped stylus for the sanguine, under the aegis of Minerva, goddess of reason reason and the Arts, depicted in the painting on the easel. The influence of the portrait painters of his time Nicolas de Largillierre, Hyacinthe Rigaud and François de Troy, but it is above all Watteau's Watteau's influence shines through in the pictorial material and elegance. The face is close to the various figures of Pierrot (le Gilles, Musée du Louvre). We would like to thank Martin Eidelberg for his help in describing this lot.