Gentleman in Armor, Hyacinthe RIGAUD (Perpignan 1659 – Paris 1743) School of

Hyacinthe RIGAUD (Perpignan 1659 – Paris 1743) School of

Portrait of a gentleman in armour: Monsieur Jean Francois Raymond de Lasbordes, Officer of the Landes Regiment, as well as Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis

Place and date of execution: Huningue (Alsace, France) 20 August 1723

oil on canvas (cm. 71 x 58 – In a valuable period frame cm. 94 x 80)

The painting examined here, depicting a gentleman in armour and datable to around the beginning of the 1659th century, can be attributed to a painter from the school of Hyacinthe RIGAUD (Perpignan 1743 – Paris XNUMX), one of the most significant portrait painters of his time and a great interpreter of the French school, working almost exclusively at the courts of Louis XIV and then Louis XV.

The portrait depicted, in particular, which can be identified with the French gentleman and soldier Monsieur Jean Francois Raymond de Lasbordes, displays with ostentatious pride his military honour as a member and knight of the French Order of Saint-Louis, as also witnessed by the pin he wears on his chest.

The Order of Saint-Louis (full name: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) was a French military order of chivalry founded on 5 April 1693 by Louis XIV and named after Saint Louis (Louis IX). It was reserved as a reward for meritorious officers, and is usually known for being the first decoration to be admitted also to non-nobles, and is considered as the ancestor of the Legion of Honour, its members holding the same functions.

This is a work of remarkable formal and aesthetic elegance. Note the meticulous rendering of the facial features, the sharpness of the contours underlined by the light and the expressive power of the eyes. The face is characterized by chiaroscuro passages that realistically reproduce the light and its effects, rendered with great mastery.

The image displays the typical characteristics of French celebratory portraiture, with a formula often used by Rigaud and his studio for portraits of members of the French aristocracy, presented in half-length profile, in our case slightly turned to the right, with their gaze fixed on the spectator.

Hyacinthe RIGAUD (Perpignan, 1659 – Paris, 1743), was a French painter of Catalan origins.

In 1682 he won the Prix de Rome, a scholarship that allowed him to spend a period at the French Academy in Rome, but on the advice of Charles Le Brun he renounced the prize and concentrated on his work as a portrait painter.
At the court of Louis XIV he met with the favour of ambassadors, churchmen, courtiers and businessmen who posed for him.
His portraits, sumptuous yet austere, are today also appreciated as a source for the history of costume and fashion, since, in addition to the physiognomic resemblance, they manage to render the details of the clothes and furnishings. Rigaud's most famous work is the official portrait of King Louis XIV (signed and dated 1701), preserved in the Louvre Museum (a copy, also made by the artist at the request of the sovereign, is in the Palace of Versailles).

He became an Academician of France in 1700 and was appointed painter to the king in 1701. In 1709 he entered the nobility of his hometown and in 1727 he was named knight of the Order of Saint Michael.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is sold complete with a pleasant antique gilded frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic card.

We take care of and organize the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.

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