Jakob Ferdinand Voet, 'Cardinal de Retz', 1676

The sitter’s identity is given in a later inscription at top left as: ‘Le cardinal de Retz’ and confirmed by comparison with engraved portraits by Etienne Picart (1652) and P. van Schuppen (1662).

Jean François-Paul de Gondi (1613–1679) was the second son of Philippe-Emmanuel de Gondi, a general of the galleys of France and the nephew of Henri de Gondi, Archbishop of Paris. He was a leader in the troubles of the Fronde, a series of civil disturbances in France from 1648 to 1653. He was made Cardinal de Retz in 1652 but later that year he was imprisoned by Cardinal Mazarin, the first minister of King Louis XIII.

Cardinal de Retz left France for Spain, then Rome (where he attended the conclave which elected Pope Alexander VII in 1655), Burgundy, Holland, Flanders and England before returning to France after Mazarin’s death in 1662. He also attended the conclaves in Rome which elected Pope Clement IX in 1667, Pope Clement X in 1670, and Pope Innocent XI in 1676. His memoirs, addressed to an anonymous lady who was probably Madame de Sévigné, were first published in 1717.

Given Retz’s apparent age in the portrait – he looks to be in his late 50s – he may have been portrayed in Rome during one of the conclaves he attended. Although the conclaves of 1667 and 1676 lasted only a matter of weeks, the conclave of 1670 continued over a period of four months, so this seems the most likely opportunity for Retz to have commissioned a portrait. It was also at this moment that Voet was painting portraits of a number of cardinals in Rome.

Jakob Voet was a Flemish portrait painter who worked in Rome, Paris and Antwerp. Although this painting and Cardinal Carlo Cerri are firmly attributed to Voet, they appear stylistically different. The rapidity of the brushwork of the drapery, the way in which the sitter’s left shoulder is delineated, and Retz’s thoughtful introspective look recall similar qualities in Voet’s Cardinal Alessandro Crescenzi (formerly Heim Gallery, London) and Cardinal Decio Azzolini (Staatliche Museum, Berlin).