JEAN-BAPTISTE MUTIN | PORTRAIT OF A SECOND MAÎTRE IN THE FRENCH NAVY

Paris, Musée de la Marine, Le prince de Joinville et la marine de son temps, November 1953 - May 1954, no. E.48

A fascinating portrait of a young naval officer, this pastel was shown at the Musée de la Marine in 1953 in an exhibition in honor of François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville, who was the third son of King Louis Philippe. The biracial man depicted in the present work is identified in an old label on the reverse as a second maître of the French Navy, of which the Prince of Joinville served as admiral; his service brought him to Rio di Janeiro, where he married his Princess Francisca of Brazil. 

The portraitist Jean-Baptiste Mutin studied in Dijon under Anatole Devosge (1770-1850).