Portrait Of François-fiacre De Grave (1724–1787), Bishop Of Valence

Portrait of François-Fiacre de Grave, Bishop of Valence, in the last third of the 18th century. The oval-shaped oil on canvas depicts the prelate half-length, dressed in black ecclesiastical robes with a Roman collar, adorned with the episcopal pectoral cross, an attribute of his office. The painting is preserved in its original giltwood frame, perfectly suited to the canvas. The work can be precisely dated to 1785, coinciding with François-Fiacre de Grave's time as Bishop of Valence, a few years before the French Revolution. Born in Bordeaux on January 6, 1724, François-Fiacre de Grave came from a family of provincial nobility. He was the son of Charles de Grave, Lord of Dufort, a senior officer in the Languedoc Regiment. After a solid ecclesiastical education, he served as Vicar General of the Diocese of Saintes, then represented the ecclesiastical province at the Assembly of the Clergy in 1760. He was appointed Bishop of Valence in 1771, confirmed in 1772, and consecrated the same year by Christophe de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris. His episcopate, which lasted until his death, took place during a pivotal period in French religious and political history, on the eve of the Revolution. François-Fiacre de Grave died in Paris on July 1, 1787, after sixteen years at the head of the Diocese of Valence. He is also known for being the uncle of Pierre-Marie de Grave, Minister of War in 1792.