Title: Louis Auguste Thibault-Dubois (1745-1822), Chevalier de Saint Louis
Date: c.1775
Medium: Pastel on paper
Dimensions:
61.5 x 50 cm
Signed: ?J Valade (illegible)
Credit Line: Purchased, 1961 (Shaw Fund)
Object Number: NGI.3315
DescriptionJean Valade, the son of a painter, studied in Paris under Charles-Antoine Coypel and Louis Tocqué. He drew numerous series of pastel portraits of well-to-do French families but his reputation tends to be overshadowed by his better-known peers Maurice Quentin de la Tour and Jean-Baptiste Perronneau. In fact, for many years this portrait was attributed to la Tour. Unfortunately for Valade, at the Salon of 1767 the great thinker and critic Diderot dismissed his work with the damning epithet ‘rien’. This lively, colourful image represents a member of the extended Faventine family, who until the Revolution, were immensely wealthy and powerful. Typical stylistic characteristics of Valade’s work are evident in this portrait, notably the use of a bright white line at the edge of the wig, powdery dark strokes of pastel indicating folds in the coat, and the precise detailing of the lace cravat. The plain column in the background is a usual compositional device in Valade’s portraits.
March 2016
March 2016