French school circa 1740 - Portrait of an elegant young man

Canvas 73 cm by 60 cm
Superb frame 91 cm by 78 cm

We are in the 1730s; 1750, most certainly in the studio of Robert Levrac Tournières or from the hand of one of his students for this superb portrait. This sumptuously framed painting is very elegant, the velvets in bright and shimmering colors dress a young man with a sparkling eye.

Robert Levrac de Tounières (1667; 1752)

His father, an engraver by trade, had married a widow, the mother of François Lemoyne, of whom he was to be the first master. After completing his classical studies, he entered the studio of one of his parents, a mediocre painter, whom he soon surpassed. A pupil of Lucas Delahaye, then of Bon de Boulogne and Hyacinthe Rigaud, Tournières was received twice at the Royal Academy of Painting in 1702, as a portrait painter and on October 24, 1716, as a history painter. A pupil of Rigaud, therefore, for whom he worked in the famous workshop for two years (1698 and 1699) With a real talent as a physiognomist and painter, Tournières enjoyed a very great reputation during his lifetime. Highly sought after in his time, he was the portrait painter of the Regent, chancellors, many political personalities and left more than two hundred portraits preserved for the most part in private collections. His numerous portraits representing characters of various classes: ministers, magistrates, ladies of the court, artists, merchants. With a delicate color, a perfect suitability in the pose and the adjustment, a beautiful elegance in the draperies, he is a recognized and appreciated artist. He gave the French expression of the portrait a particular truth and vigor.