Portrait of Jacques le Ménestrel by Joseph Vivien circa 1702

Very beautiful portrait that depicted Jacques le Ménestrel, of Haugel de Lutteaux, lord of the Granges.
Son of a secretary and grand auditor of the king, he was appointed colonel of the Beaujolais regiment in 1702 and took part in the expedition to the Tyrol in 1703, before being killed by a musket shot during the siege of Verceil, in Piedmont, during the war of the Spanish succession.
Depicted halfway up his body in his cuirass, he is leaning on his commanding staff and wears a cape in the red color of his regiment's livery.
 
His face, framed by an abundance of curly hair, is subtly lit by moonlight that makes the steel of the armor shine.
 
Oil on canvas, good condition, small restorations in the background.
 
A small text in the upper left corner of the canvas introduces the character: "Jacques Le Ménestrel des granges, Colonel of the Beaujolais reg, killed at the siege of Verceil in 1704".
 
Rectangular frame surmounted by a ribbon knot ; in gilded oak wood, dating from the 18th century (given the dimensions).
 
Attributed to Joseph Vivien, late Louis XIV period, circa 1703.
 
Provenance :
 
Collection of Joachim-Joseph d'Estaing (1654-1742) in the castle of Lavaur (Puy de Dôme)
 
Dimensions :
 
Frame :
 
Canvas :
 
Our view :
 
As the presence of his baton of command indicates, our painting can be dated to 1702, that is to say after the nomination of Jacques le Ménestrel at the head of the Beaujolais regiment.
 
In view of the mountains and the fortress visible in the background, the scene probably takes place in the Tyrol, where his regiment was engaged in 1703 with French troops attempting to join the armies of Maximilian of Bavaria (1662-1726).
 
It is probably in these circumstances that Vivien, who is the first painter of the elector and who is native of Lyon, realizes the portrait of the colonel of the regiment of Beaujolais.
 
In addition to the technique and stylistic similarities with other portraits of the painter dating from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War (Phillipe d'Anjou, the Grand Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy...), the presence of a pastel frame of the period, probably enlarged for the occasion, confirms our hypothesis.
 
Although today Joseph Vivien is best known for his pastels, numerous period articles indicate that he enjoyed an important international reputation as a portraitist.
 
His light touch, his talents as a colorist and the luminosity of his portraits earned him many prestigious commissions.
 
His oil portraits are quite rare on the market, they are often of very high quality, and sometimes wrongly attributed to Nicolas de Largillière.
 
The portrait we present is depicted the quintessence of his art.
 
*The Beaujolais Regiment was a regiment of line infantry, created in 1685, under the reign of Louis XIV, King of France.
 
*The Siege of Verceil, which took place from June 15 to July 20, 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, opposed the troops of the French monarchy commanded by the Duke of Vendome to the troops of the Duchy of Savoy commanded by Governor Deshayes.
 
*Joseph Vivien was born in 1657 in Lyon (France) and died on December 5, 1734 in Bonn (electorate of Cologne, Holy Roman Empire) is a French painter.
 
Vivien left for Paris in 1677 and trained at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in the studio of François Bonnemer. He also received advice from Le Brun.
 
He soon acquired a great reputation for his portraits and gave the pastel a strength of tone and effects that had not been known until then in this genre of painting.
 
He was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting in 1701 as a "painter in pastel", and was appointed advisor some time later. He was given a housing at the Gobelins before becoming the first painter of the Electors of Bavaria and Cologne.
 
Joseph Vivien remained for a long time in the service of the Elector Maximilian-Emmanuel of Bavaria, who thought highly of him and appointed him his first painter. In the year of his death he started a large oil painting of the whole electoral family, which he wanted to take to the Elector of Bavaria himself. He first went to Bonn, to the Elector of Cologne, but his old age did not allow him to bear the strain of the journey and he died in Bonn, at the court of the Elector of Cologne.