Presumed portrait of Mr. de Laborderie, French school around 1700

Joseph Vivien (1657-1734) around. Presumed portrait of Mr. de Laborderie. Original canvas measuring 73 cm by 59 cm. Old frame measuring 90 cm by 78 cm. This sumptuous painting by an artist close to Joseph Vivien is a composition on its original canvas, its stretcher is also original as is its frame, which is rare enough to be noted. An old label suggests the portrait of Monsieur de la Borderie, receiver general (to be considered with the usual reservations). With this very beautiful portrait, the artist gratifies us with his talent, notably with a superbly rendered wig and a very handsome face. The general atmosphere suggests that the painting was done by candlelight and not in broad daylight as usual. Joseph Vivien (1657-1734) From 1672, he was in Paris, a student of Bonnemer and moved in the entourage of Le Brun. Although he executed some religious paintings (now lost), he specialized in portraiture, most often in pastel, and, as such, was admitted to the Academy in 1701: Portrait of Girardon and Portrait of Robert de Cotte (1698-99, Louvre). The artist's fame extended beyond the French borders: in 1698, Joseph Vivien went to Brussels, where he met for the first time his future patron, Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria, of whom he painted a portrait. Later, the artist's contacts with the Bavarian court intensified, Vivien traveled several times to Bonn and worked for a considerable time in Munich. Joseph Vivien is, along with Louis de Silvestre in Dresden and Antoine Pesne in Berlin, one of the French artists who have greatly influenced the German-speaking world. He now devoted a good part of his activity to the courts of Cologne and Bavaria (numerous portraits of princes preserved in Munich: Alte Pin., Residence, Schleissheim). His most important oil painting is the allegory of the Reunion of Max-Emmanuel of Bavaria with his family (1715-1733, Munich, Alte Pin.). His large official portraits show a certain stiffness, which disappears in the effigies of figures of a lower rank (Fénelon, 1713, Versailles; Samuel Bernard, 1699, Rouen Museum; probably his masterpiece) or artists (Self-portrait, 1730, Munich, Alte Pin.; 1699, Uffizi; Portrait of a Painter, 1698, Louvre; Hardouin-Mansart, Hermitage). Vivien, along with Rosalba Carriera, established the fashion for pastel portraits, which enjoyed great success throughout the century.