Portrait Of A President In A Academic Cap, French School, Follower Of Rigaud, Circa 1700

Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659–1743), a close associate of Jean Ranc (1674–1735)

Portrait of a President Wearing a Tufted Cap of the Parliament of Paris, likely a member of the Lamoignon family

Oil on canvas.
Antique carved and gilded wooden frame from the period; restored.

This portrait depicts a high-ranking magistrate dressed in the red robe characteristic of the presidents wearing a mortarboard of the Parliament of Paris, one of the highest offices in the judiciary under the Ancien Régime. The subject is depicted in a half-length portrait, slightly turned, wearing the large judicial wig and the white lace lapel that distinguishes parliamentary portraits from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

The composition, marked by great simplicity, focuses attention on the subject’s facial features and the fullness of the red drapery, rendered with vigor and enlivened by deep highlights. The monumental structure of the wig, the solid modeling of the face, and the characteristic lighting place the work within the tradition of the grand Parisian official portrait developed around 1700 in the circle of the famous court portraitist Hyacinthe Rigaud.

Through its construction of volumes and the expansive treatment of the drapery, the painting also exhibits stylistic affinities with the manner of Jean Ranc, a student of Rigaud who was active in Paris at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries before leaving for the Spanish court in 1722.

The subject matter corresponds to the portraits commissioned by the leading Parisian legal families to adorn the galleries of their private mansions. The model’s features and parliamentary attire possibly suggest a member of the prestigious Lamoignon family, a dynasty of magistrates who held the highest offices in the Parliament of Paris for several generations.

An old inscription reading “Rigaud” appears on the reverse of the canvas, attesting to a long-standing tradition of attributing the work to the master’s studio.

A work characteristic of French parliamentary portraiture at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.