René Antoine Houasse - Portrait Of Louis Ogier, Marquis Of Cavoye

A brilliant courtier, his fine bearing and wit won him numerous female conquests and a few stays at the Conciergerie and the Bastille.

One of the witnesses to the end of the reign of Louis XIV, Duke Saint-Simon, had these few words to say about him: "There are singular characters in the courts, who without wit, without distinguished birth, and without surroundings or services, pierce through the familiarity of what is most brilliant there, and finally make, one knows not why, count the world with them. Such was Cavoye there all his life, a very little gentleman at best, whose name was Oger. He was grand marshal of the king's household; and the novel which earned him this charge deserves not to be forgotten, after having said what concerns him at this time. »

Cavoye, appointed Grand Marshal of the King's Logis, participated in the choice of the site of Marly to install the King's favorite residence there. To be nearby, in 1696, he bought the Château de Voisins in Louveciennes, from Louis II Bernin de Valentinois, Marquis d'Ussé, son-in-law of Vauban. Monsieur de Cavoye furnished it with pomp, to receive many of the King's guests at Marly, who could not be accommodated in the famous pavilions. It was he who, in 1686, with Louis XIV drew up the list of "Marlys", popular receptions in the enchanting site of the Château and the Parc de Marly.

Raised to the title of Marquis in 1677, Louis d'Ogier de Cavoye, obtained permission to own his private chapel whose bell "La Cavoise" baptized in 1697, still rings every hour, in the outbuildings of the Castle rebuilt around 1825, and occupied now by the Training Center of the National Bank of Paris.

By virtue of his functions, Monsieur de Cavoye received at Voisins a number of famous people who were his friends, Racine, Boileau, Jules Hardouin Mansart. If we listen to the Sun King, Cavoye with Racine thinks he is a wit, Racine with Cavoye thinks he is a courtier. Very richly endowed by the monarch, he had interests in the maritime armament of the Corsair Jean Bart. The King sometimes visited him at Louveciennes, which was a very rare honor. Towards the end of his life, he asked Louis XIV several times to take over his charge, but the King refused, saying to him "Cavoye, let's die together", which was almost done since Louis d'Ogier de Cavoye died at the beginning of 1716, five months after the Sun King.

He left his name to the Hôtel de Cavoye located at 52 rue des Saints-Pères in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. Purchased on July 18, 1679, this residence will be the epicenter of a chosen society, which included Jean Racine and Nicolas Boileau.

This private mansion has nowadays acquired a certain celebrity by becoming the residence of personalities such as Hubert de Givenchy, Bernard Tapie and recently François Pinault.

Our painting realistically transcribes this famous gentleman portrayed with a thick embroidered silk coat, accompanied by an honorary blue ribbon symbolizing the order of the Holy Spirit. Its collar is surrounded by a jabot of fine white lace in tie, enhanced with a black satin bow. Long evanescent hair covers her bust.

We find in this oval portrait a part of the universe of René-Antoine Houasse, a rare painter, pupil of Charles Le Brun.

This painting imprinted with great precision, exalts the smoothness and the refinement of the coloring which contribute to evoke the feelings of the soul and serve to bring to light the qualities of the various temperaments, giving life to our subject by provoking the most seductive of illusions!

Our marquis is depicted with verisimilitude and careful psychological grasp. The treatment of the face through grandiose and poetic colors demonstrates the originality of the painter to oppose the boring classicism of his time, imposing this new ardor of the colorists which would alone make the junction with the 18th century.

Houasse's pictorial mastery associated with his virtuoso palette, encompassing at the same time, color, light and shadow, gives birth to a remarkable work of relief and strength. Louis Ogier thus displays a real presence and seems to scrutinize the spectator with benevolence.

Our painting dates from the 17th century, around 1680. Attributed to René-Antoine Houasse. Canvas mounted on isorel, presented in its original gilded frame, all carved with oak leaf, flower and acorn motifs.

(A similar portrait sold at Sotheby's New York on June 4, 2009 (lot 63, Old Master Paintings, European Sculpture & Antiquities)

Oil on oval canvas (75 cm x 60 cm) and its frame (91.5 cm x 76.5 cm).

Literature
René-Antoine Houasse (1645 - 1710) who was to become "Painter to the King", was spotted, after his apprenticeship with Nicolas de Plattemontagne, by the First Painter to the King Charles Le Brun, he intervened on all the major construction sites of the reign of Louis XIV: at Versailles (Grand Appartement du roi, staircase of the Ambassadors and Halls of Mirrors), at the Trianon de Marbre and at the Tuileries. He also made many tapestry cartoons for the Manufacture des Gobelins. His exemplary official career, from his reception at the Royal Academy (1672) to his directorship of the French Academy in Rome (1699-1704), should not overshadow his artistic career illustrated by the grand decorations of the royal residences including his masterpiece, Iris and Morpheus. The virtuoso and singular palette of this subject from Ovid's Metamorphoses and its proximity to Girodet's Endymion or Guérin's Narcissus – painted a century and a half later – sparked new public interest in this painter in the 1960s. forget. Houasse is also the author, based on a drawing by Le Brun, of one of the most famous and widely distributed equestrian portraits of Louis XIV.

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