GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This startlingly realistic depiction of the actor and playwright Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard (called Desforges) ranks among Vincent's finest known portraits. One of a number of portraits executed by the painter just before and after the French Revolution, Vincent's vision of inspired genius and expression of transport may well have been interpreted as a sign of the sitter's patriotic, as well as creative fervor. The writer's relatively simple clothes and undressed hair reflect Revolutionary culture's rejection of the effete fashions of the newly fallen ancien regime, however his apparently casual appearance was carefully staged. Desforges’s hair, for example, is his own, not a wig. Although it follows the current fashion, it is powdered, harking back to the custom of his youth; he treads the line between past and present, although the general effect is modern, reflecting new times and new ideas.
Adapted from
- Aileen Ribeiro, The Mirror of History: The Art of Dress in late Eighteenth-Century France," 141-155, in French Art of the Eighteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016. p. 143-144
- Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 21-22.
NOTES
Checked Piction
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
This portrait of the playwright Desforges communicates the writer's moment of creative genius through his informal, slightly disheveled clothing and his upturned gaze, burning with the intensity of artistic inspiration. The carefully described pleats of Desforges's white linen shirt help frame him against the subdued background. The plainness of his dress reflects Revolutionary culture's rejection of the effete fashions of the ancien regime and is complemented by François-Andre Vincent's highly polished and illusionistic manner of painting.
Heather MacDonald, November 2009
The noted dramatist and author Desforges is caught in a moment ofthought and introspection. Unlike the painting of a Parisian Alderman by Hyacinthe Rigaud, this is not an official state portrait. Desforges sits before a blank background, has no wig, and is dressed simply. This is a portrait of an artist. The writer gazes upward with a light glowing behind him representing the genius of artistic inspiration.
From- didactic and label copy in education files, no date or author.
Francois-Andre Vincent (1746-1816)
Portrait of Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard (called Desforges)
Signed and dated lower right: Vincent 1789
Oil on canvas
This startlingly realistic depiction of the actor and playwright Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard (called Desforges) ranks among Vincent's finest known portraits. One of a number of portraits executed by the painter just before and after the Revolution, Vincent's vision of inspired genius must have been met with approval when it was exhibited in the Salon of 1791. Indeed Desforges' expression of transport may well have been interpreted as a sign of the sitter's patriotic, as well as creative fervor. The writer's relatively simple clothes and undressed hair reflect Revolutionary culture's rejection of the effete fashions ofthe newly fallen ancien regime. This plainness of dress is complemented by the Vincent's manner of painting. Unlike Jean-Honore Fragonard, Vincent's contemporary, the artist foregoes the bravura brushwork that animate Fragonard's Portraits defantaisie, works that in format this portrait distinctly recalls. Instead Vincent opts for a highly polished, illusionistic surface, not unlike that found in Leopold Boilly's A Family Admiring a Portrait ofa Lady in an Interior, on view in the next room. In fact, Vincent's paintings have often been confused with those of Boilly, as well as a number of other contemporary artists. Vincent's decision to represent Desforges against a subdued, anonymous backdrop of scumbled gray also recalls the portraits ofthe better known, Jacques-Louis David, against whom Vincent competed for official commissions. As a rare, signed and dated work, the Rosenberg Portrait ofDesforges is a precious example of Vincent's fully mature artistic style during the Revolutionary period.
Vincent was the talented pupil ofJoseph-Marie Vien. It is even possible that Vincent met Desforges while in the atelier of this Academic history painter, for Desforges' youthful interest in painting and his acquaintance with Vien have been documented. Vien, who
also instructed David, was one of the earliest French painters to adapt his style of painting to the mid-IS"-century resurgence of interest in classical art. Like David, Vincent won the privilege of an extended sejour at the French Academy in Rome from 1768-1776,
where he immersed himself in the study of the antique tradition. Vincent's fluency in the art of Greek and Roman antiquity allowed him to develop new subjects from the classical past that were particularly appropriate for the propagandistic needs of the Revolutionary government. He also achieved fame as a painter of subjects drawn from more recent French history, such as his depiction of President Mole Seized by the Mob (Salon of 1779).
In the Rosenberg Portrait ofDesforges, Vincent communicates the writer's moment of creative genius through light and color. The beautifully described pleats of the sitter's shirt and the subdued tonality of the background are marvelously offset by the warmth of
the red table, which also serves to signify the creative energy that colors Desforges' feverish countenance. A divine light seems to radiate from the writer's upturned gaze, which bums with the intensity of artistic genius, oblivious to all else.
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 21-22.
[this paragraph also pasted into the CC on French fashion in 18th century] From the middle of the eighteenth century, growing discontent was voiced by some philosophes and people increasingly critical of the status quo and in particular the outrageous cost of the court, as symbolized by the extravagance and artifice of the clothes worn there. Beginning in the 1780s, many young men, particularly from the upper classes, began to adopt English informal, relatively simple fashions in sober colors: dark suits and coachmen’s collared coats of wool, waistcoats of linen or cotton, leather breeches (see fig. 107, p. 151), and so on. Such clothing, linked to “democracy” and the supposed simplicities of nature, was taken up by men who wished to reform French society on more egalitarian English principles and by those who generally thought clothing should be more practical and comfortable.
In sympathy with the fashionable trend toward the casual, François-André Vincent depicted the actor, dramatist, and man of letters Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard, known as Desforges, which was his stage and pen name. The kind of clothes we wear influences our deportment as well as our appearance; complicated clothes require more attention, whereas simpler styles make us look more relaxed and suggest personality rather than status. Vincent focused on the slight, elegant disarray of Desforges’s attire, his capacious white linen shirt open at the neck, its pleated cuffs undone, and his ecru-colored gilet (a sleeveless waistcoat) of sturdy cotton; here is a man at work, neither a courtier nor a fashion victim.
In this canvas, Vincent—an artist who was able to make the move from ancien régime cultural politics to those created by the events of 1789—caught the new revolutionary mood emphasizing intellectual effort, as well as a crypto-Romantic feeling, that is, an apparently casual appearance suggesting mental effort and emotion but one that was carefully staged. Desforges’s hair, for example, is his own, not a wig. Although it follows the current fashion, it is powdered, harking back to the custom of his youth; he treads the line between past and present, although the general effect is modern, reflecting new times and new ideas.
Aileen Ribeiro, The Mirror of History: The Art of Dress in late Eighteenth-Century France," 141- 155, in French Art of the Eighteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
THIS EXCERPT FROM PAGE 143-144
former number according to education doc- T43007.23
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
François André Vincent, French, 1746 - 1816
Vincent_François André: ULAN: 500026118
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: France (nation): TGN: 1000070
Process/materials
Historical periods
1789
Individuals
Depicted individual- Pierre Jean Baptiste Choudard Desforges, French, 9/15/1746- 8/13/1806
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General Description
This startlingly realistic depiction of the actor and playwright Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard (called Desforges) ranks among Vincent's finest known portraits. One of a number of portraits executed by the painter just before and after the French Revolution, Vincent's vision of inspired genius and expression of transport may well have been interpreted as a sign of the sitter's patriotic, as well as creative fervor. The writer's relatively simple clothes and undressed hair reflect Revolutionary culture's rejection of the effete fashions of the newly fallen ancien regime, however his apparently casual appearance was carefully staged. Desforges’s hair, for example, is his own, not a wig. Although it follows the current fashion, it is powdered, harking back to the custom of his youth; he treads the line between past and present, although the general effect is modern, reflecting new times and new ideas.
Adapted from
- Aileen Ribeiro, The Mirror of History: The Art of Dress in late Eighteenth-Century France," 141-155, in French Art of the Eighteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016. p. 143-144
- Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 21-22.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Checked Piction
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
This portrait of the playwright Desforges communicates the writer's moment of creative genius through his informal, slightly disheveled clothing and his upturned gaze, burning with the intensity of artistic inspiration. The carefully described pleats of Desforges's white linen shirt help frame him against the subdued background. The plainness of his dress reflects Revolutionary culture's rejection of the effete fashions of the ancien regime and is complemented by François-Andre Vincent's highly polished and illusionistic manner of painting.
Heather MacDonald, November 2009
The noted dramatist and author Desforges is caught in a moment ofthought and introspection. Unlike the painting of a Parisian Alderman by Hyacinthe Rigaud, this is not an official state portrait. Desforges sits before a blank background, has no wig, and is dressed simply. This is a portrait of an artist. The writer gazes upward with a light glowing behind him representing the genius of artistic inspiration.
From- didactic and label copy in education files, no date or author.
Francois-Andre Vincent (1746-1816)
Portrait of Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard (called Desforges)
Signed and dated lower right: Vincent 1789
Oil on canvas
This startlingly realistic depiction of the actor and playwright Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard (called Desforges) ranks among Vincent's finest known portraits. One of a number of portraits executed by the painter just before and after the Revolution, Vincent's vision of inspired genius must have been met with approval when it was exhibited in the Salon of 1791. Indeed Desforges' expression of transport may well have been interpreted as a sign of the sitter's patriotic, as well as creative fervor. The writer's relatively simple clothes and undressed hair reflect Revolutionary culture's rejection of the effete fashions ofthe newly fallen ancien regime. This plainness of dress is complemented by the Vincent's manner of painting. Unlike Jean-Honore Fragonard, Vincent's contemporary, the artist foregoes the bravura brushwork that animate Fragonard's Portraits defantaisie, works that in format this portrait distinctly recalls. Instead Vincent opts for a highly polished, illusionistic surface, not unlike that found in Leopold Boilly's A Family Admiring a Portrait ofa Lady in an Interior, on view in the next room. In fact, Vincent's paintings have often been confused with those of Boilly, as well as a number of other contemporary artists. Vincent's decision to represent Desforges against a subdued, anonymous backdrop of scumbled gray also recalls the portraits ofthe better known, Jacques-Louis David, against whom Vincent competed for official commissions. As a rare, signed and dated work, the Rosenberg Portrait ofDesforges is a precious example of Vincent's fully mature artistic style during the Revolutionary period.
Vincent was the talented pupil ofJoseph-Marie Vien. It is even possible that Vincent met Desforges while in the atelier of this Academic history painter, for Desforges' youthful interest in painting and his acquaintance with Vien have been documented. Vien, who
also instructed David, was one of the earliest French painters to adapt his style of painting to the mid-IS"-century resurgence of interest in classical art. Like David, Vincent won the privilege of an extended sejour at the French Academy in Rome from 1768-1776,
where he immersed himself in the study of the antique tradition. Vincent's fluency in the art of Greek and Roman antiquity allowed him to develop new subjects from the classical past that were particularly appropriate for the propagandistic needs of the Revolutionary government. He also achieved fame as a painter of subjects drawn from more recent French history, such as his depiction of President Mole Seized by the Mob (Salon of 1779).
In the Rosenberg Portrait ofDesforges, Vincent communicates the writer's moment of creative genius through light and color. The beautifully described pleats of the sitter's shirt and the subdued tonality of the background are marvelously offset by the warmth of
the red table, which also serves to signify the creative energy that colors Desforges' feverish countenance. A divine light seems to radiate from the writer's upturned gaze, which bums with the intensity of artistic genius, oblivious to all else.
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 21-22.
[this paragraph also pasted into the CC on French fashion in 18th century] From the middle of the eighteenth century, growing discontent was voiced by some philosophes and people increasingly critical of the status quo and in particular the outrageous cost of the court, as symbolized by the extravagance and artifice of the clothes worn there. Beginning in the 1780s, many young men, particularly from the upper classes, began to adopt English informal, relatively simple fashions in sober colors: dark suits and coachmen’s collared coats of wool, waistcoats of linen or cotton, leather breeches (see fig. 107, p. 151), and so on. Such clothing, linked to “democracy” and the supposed simplicities of nature, was taken up by men who wished to reform French society on more egalitarian English principles and by those who generally thought clothing should be more practical and comfortable.
In sympathy with the fashionable trend toward the casual, François-André Vincent depicted the actor, dramatist, and man of letters Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Choudard, known as Desforges, which was his stage and pen name. The kind of clothes we wear influences our deportment as well as our appearance; complicated clothes require more attention, whereas simpler styles make us look more relaxed and suggest personality rather than status. Vincent focused on the slight, elegant disarray of Desforges’s attire, his capacious white linen shirt open at the neck, its pleated cuffs undone, and his ecru-colored gilet (a sleeveless waistcoat) of sturdy cotton; here is a man at work, neither a courtier nor a fashion victim.
In this canvas, Vincent—an artist who was able to make the move from ancien régime cultural politics to those created by the events of 1789—caught the new revolutionary mood emphasizing intellectual effort, as well as a crypto-Romantic feeling, that is, an apparently casual appearance suggesting mental effort and emotion but one that was carefully staged. Desforges’s hair, for example, is his own, not a wig. Although it follows the current fashion, it is powdered, harking back to the custom of his youth; he treads the line between past and present, although the general effect is modern, reflecting new times and new ideas.
Aileen Ribeiro, The Mirror of History: The Art of Dress in late Eighteenth-Century France," 141- 155, in French Art of the Eighteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
THIS EXCERPT FROM PAGE 143-144
former number according to education doc- T43007.23
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
François André Vincent, French, 1746 - 1816
Vincent_François André: ULAN: 500026118
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: France (nation): TGN: 1000070
Process/materials
Historical periods
1789
Individuals
Depicted individual- Pierre Jean Baptiste Choudard Desforges, French, 9/15/1746- 8/13/1806
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
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