Jean-Baptiste Greuze

Anonymous sale, Paris, Cornette de Saint Cyr, 24 March 2022, Lot 63 (as Follower of Greuze, late 18th century);

Where acquired by the present owner.

One of the most important portraitists of eighteenth-century France, Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted himself on a number of occasions throughout his long and successful career. In this recently rediscovered work, Greuze depicts himself as a formidable figure; his mouth is firm and his chin is tilted slightly upwards as though he is looking down on the beholder, both literally and figuratively. Although Greuze was a particularly empathetic painter–unrivalled in his ability to capture the sensitive emotions of his subjects–his self-portraits tend to have a more stoic quality. Nonethless, they are imbued with character; here, for example, Greuze decidedly conveys an impression of pride, sensitivity, and intelligence.

The present work most closely relates to another self-portrait, executed circa 1760, in the Musée du Louvre's collection.¹ Indeed, both paintings display a particular liveliness of brushwork and looseness of handling that suggests these were personal studies by the artist, rather than formal presentation portraits. The slightly unfinished quality of these self-portraits, both seemingly experimental in nature, conveys a sense of immediacy that provides insight into the artist's own self-reflection. 

¹ Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. MI 1071