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Maurice-Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788)
France, 1745
Pastel
119.5 x 92.8 cm
Inv. no. 2380
This painting shows Louis Duval de L’Épinoy, the lord of Saint-Vrain and Louis XV’s councillor and secretary. The model’s strikingly alert expression suggests his wisdom. The artist superbly captures the informal moment and turns it into a living, tangible instant.
The composition reveals the artist’s enthusiasm for French eighteenth-century rationalism. The spirit of the Enlightenment is perfectly expressed in this painting's analytical realism. Filled with allusions to geography and the arts, this pastel also reflects ideas and reveals mentalities, while the detail of the snuffbox also records sophisticated customs.
The painting reveals La Tour’s preferred colours – blues, greys and soft pinks – all of which favour the visual harmony of the whole. The 1745 Salon considered this work to be the definitive triumph of pastel painting and the finest portrait that Maurice-Quentin de La Tour had produced.
A selection of 18th century-pieces in the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection
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