French School, Portrait of a Gentleman in a Red Coat, 18th Century Oil on Canvas, Unframed

Portrait of a Gentleman in a Red Coat

Oil on canvas, relined, 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches, unsigned, French, second half of the 18th century, unframed. Offered for sale.

A mature man turned slightly to the left, in a deep red coat open at the collar over a white stock with a lace fall, a powdered grey wig curling at the sides, against a dark olive ground. The coat is a flat mass of red with almost no drawing in it. Everything the painter had went into the head: the heavy brow, the weight of the upper eyelid, the ruddy flush across the cheek. Somebody wanted this face recorded exactly as it was, and the painter obliged without flattering him.

The canvas has been relined and carries a fine surface craquelure. The paint layer is stable.

A Note on the Name

This canvas has previously circulated as a portrait of Louis XVI. We do not retain that identification: the sitter appears considerably older than the king ever was, he wears none of the royal orders such a portrait would carry, and nothing on the canvas, on the stretcher or in the provenance supports the name. What we have is a very good French portrait of an unidentified gentleman, and we prefer to sell it as that.