Jean-baptiste Oudry - Portrait Of A Man - Oil On Canvas

Oil on canvas, unlined, on its period stretcher.
Dimensions when viewed: 80 x 63.5 cm.
Framed: 98 x 82 cm.
Presented in its period carved and gilded wood frame.

Portrait of a man by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, circa 1715-1720.The influence of his master Nicolas de Largillierre is clearly perceptible in this work.

This portrait of a man posing, bust three-quarters to the right, while his face turns more toward the viewer, is a framing not uncommon in Jean-Baptiste Oudry's work, set against an architectural background. This unidentified man is standing in front of a wall, with a pilaster on the right, while a large part of the left background is occupied by a red background. We find a similar framing in this three-quarter pose, cut in the lower torso, in the Portrait de Monsieur Ruggieri (Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 31074), a drawing that appears in album I of his livre de raison. This time, it's a column that provides the background counterpoint.

This portrait can be compared, in its treatment, with a Portrait d'homme (current location unknown; Sotheby's Monaco, June 15, 1990, no. 271) and the Portrait d'un contrôleur des guerres (Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. P 1986), dated 1719. The treatment of the wig and the traces of powder on the shoulders are characteristic of the master. More generally, we find the same treatment of flesh and the same way of rendering ornate silk brocade, with accents of light provided by lively touches of paint that mark the folds of fabric. This treatment is to be compared with that of silk brocade in a Portrait d'homme (former R. Polo collection; sale Paris, Drouot, May 30, 1988).