Jean-Marc Nattier, 'Portrait of a Man in Armour', about 1750
About the work
Overview
We do not know the identity of this elegant young man in armour. Neither the wig nor the costume allows us to date the portrait precisely. He turns to look at us, as though glancing back for a moment, his lips slightly parted and his eyes directly meeting ours. The medal decorating his armour is that of a chevalier (knight) of the military Order of St Louis. However, too many officers were awarded that honour in the years around 1750 to be able to work out with any certainty who he might be.
The armour also appears in Nattier’s 1745–6 portraits of the baron de Besenval (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg) and the duc de Penthièvre (copy in a private collection) and was presumably a studio prop. The picture surface is covered with a thick yellowed varnish but the portrait has not been cut down.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Man in Armour
- Artist
- Jean-Marc Nattier
- Artist dates
- 1685 - 1766
- Date made
- about 1750
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 54 × 44.5 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Emilie Yznaga, 1945
- Inventory number
- NG5587
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century French Paintings’, London 2018; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1946Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, London 1946
-
1955The National Gallery, The National Gallery: 1938 - 1954, London 1955
-
1957Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2018Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century French Paintings, London 2018
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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