JOSEPH VIVIEN | Portrait of Jean-François Guillieaumon (1672-1758)

Pastel on paper laid down on canvas

- N. Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800, London 2006, p. 557; also listed in the online dictionary, no. J.77.21

RELATED WORK
Engraved by Nicolas Edelinck

This lively and dynamic baroque pastel is the work of Joseph Vivien (1657-1734), a native of Lyon. The artist enrolled at the Académie royale under the painter François Bonnemer (1638-1689), won the second prix de Rome in 1678, and became maître peintre three years later. It appears that, advised by Charles Le Brun, Vivien started his career as a portrait-painter. Neil Jeffares has noted that following the death of Nanteuil in 1678, the medium of pastel was used only by few, now unknown, artists, and has suggested that Vivien may have turned to pastel to distinguish himself from rival portraitists such as Rigaud, Largillierre and de Troy.  Whatever his reasons for adopting the medium, Vivien became a dominant pastellist of his time, and took the medium to an unprecedented level, employing an incredible tonal range and a fine, stumped finish, which, in the hands of such a skilled artist, ensured superb effects in the rendering of surfaces such as fabric and armour.  Moreover, as Jeffares has perceptively observed, despite the artist's monumental and baroque compositions, his portraits are always, like this outstanding pastel, both realistic and animated. This characterful portrait represents Jean-François Guillieaumon, 'M. Maitre Tapissier, Ord^re de Clergé de France, du Parlement, de la Ville et de L'Université.'  This substantial and descriptive title comes from the legend on the 2nd state of the engraving.  Vivien's close relationship with the Edelinck family of engravers firmly placed the talented pastellist at the centre of the French art world.  As Neil Jeffares recounts, 'Vivien portrayed Gérard Edelinck, who in turn, along with his son Nicolas, engraved several Vivien portraits.' See lot 22 for a portrait of Jean-François Guillieaumon's wife, also executed by Joseph Vivien.

We are most grateful to Neil Jeffares for his help in cataloging this lot.  For more information on Joseph Vivien see the online edition of N. Jeffares' Dictionary of Pastellists: www.pastellists.com/Articles/Vivien.pdf