1275 - JOSEPH DUPLESSIS

JOSEPH DUPLESSIS Portrait of a Lady with a Book Oil on canvas, 73x60 cm The painting, of great formal and artistic quality, can be confidently attributed to Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, an important French portraitist trained in Carpentras and later in the studio of Pierre Subleyras, active in Paris from the 1760s and known above all for his refined official portraits of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Benjamin Franklin, and Jacques Necker. In 1769, Denis Diderot expressed his surprise upon discovering the works of Joseph Siffred Duplessis at the Salon and stated: “Here is a painter named Duplessis, who had remained hidden for approximately ten years, who suddenly appears with three or four truly splendid portraits.” In 1781, an anonymous writer declared: “He is undoubtedly the greatest portraitist in the kingdom; he is certainly the Van Dyck of France.” His talent as a portraitist earned him commissions from the royal family, the court, and the political, scientific, and cultural elites of the Kingdom of France. Although the Revolution had deprived him of his clientele and brought his career as a painter to an end, his talent was nonetheless celebrated in the final years of the century: a refined and sophisticated style; a mastery that combined the truth of nature with the grace of exquisite execution; a constant quest to represent everything and to capture the relief of forms and the prominence of objects; freshness; soft tones; and a harmonious interplay of light and shadow. Bibliography: See Joseph Siffred Duplessis (1725–1802): Le Van Dyck de la France, French edition by Xavier Salmon (Author), Serge Andrieu (Editor)