Portrait of Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert, Comte de Richbourg-le-Toureil (1734): Art, History and Details

Portrait of Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert, Comte de Richbourg-le-Toureil (1734) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nicolas de Largillière (French, 1656–1746).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

By positioning the figure close to the picture plane and engulfed in a swirl of drapery, Nicolas de Largillière created a remarkably informal likeness of the 26-year-old Goislard. This impression is enhanced by the sitter’s open shirt and the drift of wig powder that dusts the shoulders of his velvet doublet. Warm hues and thick brushstrokes reveal the artist’s study of earlier Flemish painters, notably Anthony van Dyck. Despite his youth and seeming nonchalance, Goislard was a figure of prominence. He may have commissioned this work to commemorate his appointment to the Parlement, or governing council, of France in 1732, or earning the title Lord of Montsabert the following year.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert, Comte de Richbourg-le-Toureil
• Date: 1734
• Creator attribution: Nicolas de Largillière (French, 1656–1746)
• Culture: France
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 108.5 x 91.5 x 11 cm (42 11/16 x 36 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 80.6 x 63.8 cm (31 3/4 x 25 1/8 in.)
• Collection: P - French 18th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1970.31

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• William S. Talbot, letter to Monsieur Montsabert, Nov. 3, 1970, in CMA curatorial file.
• Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to William S. Talbot, June 18, 1970, in CMA curatorial file.
• Eugene Victor Thaw, letter to William S. Talbot, June 18, 1970, in CMA curatorial file.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.