Model prisoners - portraits by Jacques-Louis David, 1795

 

From the beginning, David was a fervent supporter of the French Revolution, one of its greatest visual propagandists, and a regicide who voted for the execution of Louis XVI. He was a friend of Maximilien Robespierre, and became a deputy in the National Convention in 1792. He also became a member of the Comité de sûreté générale - a parliamentary committee of the Convention, formed that same year, which acted as a police agency during the Revolution - and was an active participant in the Reign of Terror. At the eventual fall and subsequent execution of Robespierre and several of his allies at the end of July 1794, David barely escaped meeting the same fate; he was out of the action nursing a "stomach pain." Nevertheless, he was arrested two days later, 2 August 1794. Imprisoned first in the Hôtel des Fermes, after a month he was transferred to the Palais du Luxembourg; he was eventually released on 28 December. But he was arrested again the following 28 May and was jailed at the Collège des Quatre-Nations - the present-day Institut de France - until 3 August 1795. (The dates given for this latter incarceration vary slightly depending on the source.) He was granted an amnesty on 26 October 1795.

Portrait of an unknown man. (In my opinion, this is one of the best of the group, but sadly unidentified.)

It was during the period of his second imprisonment in 1795 that David created this series of portraits of his fellow prisoners, fellow deputies of the National Convention, all arrested at the same time as the artist, and most of them former allies of Robespierre.

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Thirus (or Thyrus) de Pautrizel (25 August 1754 - 31 December 1836).

The inscription above reads: THIRUS DE PAUTRIZEL, Capitaine de Cavallerie en 1785, Représentant de la NATION FRANCAISE en 1794 e t 1795 - THIRUS DE PAUTRIZEL, Captain of the Cavalry in 1785, Representative of the FRENCH NATION in 1794 and 1795.

Portrait of an unknown man, sometimes identified as Edmond-Louis-Alexis Dubois de Crancé, dit Dubois-Crancé (14 October 1747 - 28 June 1814).

André Antoine Bernard de Jeuzines, dit Bernard de Saintes (21 June 1751 - 19 October 1818).

"Portrait of a Revolutionary." Unlike the other portraits here, this is only sketched out and remains apparently unfinished.

Jeanbon Saint-André (25 February 1749 - 10 December 1813).

The inscription above reads: Donum amicitiae. amoris Solatium. David faciebat in vinculis anno R.fr 3 (1795) messidoris 20 - The gift of friendship. The comfort of love. David did [this while] in chains in the third year of the French Republic (1795) Messidor 20 - the French Revolutionary calendar date of "Messidor 20" corresponds with 28 July 1795.

Joseph-Nicolas Barbeau du Barran (3 July 1761 - 16 May 1816).

Presumed portrait of Jean-Baptiste-Robert Lindet (2 May 1746 - 17 February 1825).

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All of these share a similar format and medium, all executed on a round support and, as far as I can tell, all are approximately eighteen centimeters (seven and an eighth inches) in diameter, and all but one are done in pen and black India ink with gray wash, and traces of white body color, over pencil.

Dietrich in Schiap - photographs by Lee Miller, Paris, 1944

 

The first four images are from the Lee Miller Archives.

Whether you believe her version or that of her daughter's regarding the duration of the tour, Dietrich had spent months traveling in North Africa and Italy entertaining the troops. Arriving in the just liberated French capital in September of 1944, she met up with photographer Lee Miller whose own wartime work alternated between the front line and creating features for Vogue. The meeting produced these images of the actress modeling an evening coat/hostess gown by one of her favorite fashion designers, Elsa Schiaparelli. The images were sent to Vogue that same month, and Dietrich went on to wear the garment at further war-related appearances and in publicity portraits.

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Two months later, on 20 November, Dietrich wore the coat when she performed for the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops at the seminary in Luxembourg City.

The 23rd - aka "The Ghost Army" - was a tactical deception unit that had been formed to mislead the Axis forces as to the size and location of Allied forces.

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That same month, this time in Namur, Belgium, she wore the coat again when, famous for her "million dollar" legs, she judged those of a sextet of American GIs. 

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She also wore it for a series of formal portraits, with typical "movie star" lighting, and wearing full-on makeup and a longer wig instead of her own hair. 

I don't know who the photographer was or the reason for the session, possibly publicity for "Kismet" the only film she starred in that year.

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The garment survives, but un-Dietrich-ed it looks distinctly less fabulous.

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Chasing Velázquez, chasing Manet - "Manuelito, the Circus Lad" by Glyn Philpot, 1909

 

This is the painting said to have launched Philpot's career. He had begun his formal art education at the Lambeth School of Art at the age of only fifteen and later, in 1905, at the Académie Julian in Paris. But the first great turning point in his artistic development came in 1908, during his travels in Spain. Upon returning to Britain, he embarked on a series of paintings inspired by his experiences in Spain, work that clearly shows the lingering influence of Goya and Velázquez, those artists that had, previously, had such a strong effect on, among others, Manet and Sargent. (In fact, it's nearly impossible not to see a direct line from Manet's Spanish-themed paintings to this piece.) 

"Manuelito, the Circus Lad" was first exhibited at the Modern Society of Portrait Painters in 1910, causing a sensation, and focusing the spotlight on the young artist, who would soon become a greatly sought-after society portraitist. After being shown at the Venice Biennale in that same year, the painting was bought by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, in whose collection it still resides.

En famille - Marie-Anne Gaillard de la Bouexière de Gagny and her family, by Jean-François de Troy, 1736

 

Marie Anne Françoise Gaillard de la Bouëxière de Gagny, dame de Richebourg, (1706-1751), is the striking central figure and graceful focus of this group portrait. Her father, Jean Gaillard de la Bouëxière, seigneur de Gagny et de la Bouëxière, (1676-1759), is seated behind her, his arm resting on her toilette table. And in the right half of the composition is seated her husband, Hyacinthe Hocquart, seigneur de Montfermeil, (1695-1764) - the couple married in 1725 and would have eight children - with their eldest son, Jean Hyacinthe Emmanuel Hocquart de Montfermeil, the future marquis de Montfermeil, de Coubron, and de Gagny, (1727-1778). Both her father and her husband were fermiers généraux and firmly established in the royal administration, their prominent positions allowing them to acquire property, wealth, and title. The couple's son also pursued a brilliant career in the royal administration, being appointed councilor to the Parliament of Paris in 1747, then councilor in the Seconde Chambre des Requêtes du Palais in 1758.

The informality of this portrait makes it something almost like a genre painting or a French "conversation piece"...

... and I find the affectionate and naturalistic pose of father and son particularly charming.

I love the "still-life" of the silver toilette articles; I especially enjoy the detail of the pins just visible sticking out of the pin cushion.

I love this very tender detail.

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Auctioned in November of 2025, the painting sold for €4,067,600, more than double its high estimate.

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Along the stretcher of the husband's chair is where the artist chose to sign and date the painting.