Portrait of a Gentleman, 17th Century French; Circle of Joseph Vivien (1657-1735)

Oil on canvas in a fine carved 17th 18th century frame.

The style and type of this portrait was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries as a means to emphasise and glorify a sitter’s importance. The attire is an indication of wealth and status and subjects often quite consciously engineered their public image in an ambition to stand out from others. Portraiture was often regarded as a means of displaying achievements, capabilities and superiority. The fine armour was never used in actual battle but signified the sitter’s importance in social rank. Sitters in these portraits were often placed in outdoor settings sometimes with military encampments or amongst battlefields. Here, the artist chose to concentrate solely on the sitter without any distractions.

The drawing is very good as is the treatment of the armour. In 1680s European fashion, mens wigs developed a middle part and this continued to grow in volume until by the 1690s two very high pronounced points developed on the forehead such as the present example.

A very good example of European aristocratic portraiture.

Joseph Vivien (1657-1735) was a French painter. He left his native Lyon for Paris at the age of twenty to work in the workshop of Charles Le Brun, a great privalege. He made his reputation by his portraits in pastels, to which he gave a sparkle and immediacy which to that time was unrivalled. He trained as a painter in Paris in the 1670s, eventually specialising in portraiture. The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture received him in 1698. His contemporaries admired his sophisticated use of color. He had a large influence on the greatest pastelist of the next generation, Maurice-Quentin de la Tour. In 1700 Vivien was appointed court painter to Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, and thereafter divided his time between Paris, Maximilian Emmanuel's courts at Brussels and Munich, and the court of Maximilian Emmanuel's brother at Bonn.

Measurements: Height 94cm, Width 82cm framed (Height 37”, Width 32.25” framed)

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