Portrait Of Louis De Villeneuve Bargemon, 18th-century Canon Of Aix-en-provence, Attributed To Claude Arnulphy

Louis de Villeneuve-Bargemon was a clergymanfrom Provence, born on August 19, 1746, at the Château de Bargemon inBargemon in the Var department, who died on March 21, 1818, in Lorgues, alsoin the Var department, at the age of 71.

He was the son of Christophe de Bargemon, Baron of Vaucluse, andThérèse Françoise de Lombard-Gourdon. He entered the Major Seminary of Saint-Sulpicein Paris at the age of 17, in 1763.
He was appointed canon of themetropolitan see of Aix-en-Provence the following year, then namedprior of Saint Vincent de Tiffauges in the Diocese of La Rochelle in 1779.
He became vicar general to Emmanuel de Bausset, bishopof the Diocese of Fréjus, and later to Louis-Marie de Nicolaÿ, bishop of Cahors.
In 1791, he served as administrator of the chapter of Aix. During thetime of the Revolution, he was forced to flee to Italy, where he spent about 10 years. Uponreturning to France after the Concordat in 1801, he settled with his family inLorgues and, in 1803, accepted the parish of that town.

He was appointed by King Louis XVIII to the bishopric of Gap in1817 but declined due to his poor health. He died in Lorgueson March 21, 1818.

Depicted here around 1764, upon his return toAix-en-Provence, Louis de Villeneuve wears the dark clerical robewith the lapel, and—a rarer feature—the Choir Cross of the Canonsof Aix-en-Provence, with its blue moiré collar, which might lead one to mistake itfor the Order of the Holy Spirit.

This beautiful portrait can be attributed to the painter ClaudeArnulphy (1697–1786).Born in Lyon and trained in Rome, he settled in Aix-en-Provence around 1722 and isfamous for his portraits of members of prominent families in theAix region.

Dimensions: 53.8 x 64.7 cm
Damage and losses. 

A large inscription on the back identifies the subject; the inscription was made around 1764, when the portrait was delivered, and then completed (in darker ink) upon the canon’s death after 1818.