Couple portrait - Jean-Baptiste SANTERRE

Title : Couple portrait

Artist : Jean-Baptiste SANTERRE(Magny en Véxins 1651 - Paris 1717)

Technique : Oil on canvas

Dimensions : 115 x 90 cm (140 x 115 cm with frame)

Circa 1695

Jean-Baptiste Santerre began his apprenticeship in 1673, under the direction of the portraitist François Lemaire, nephew of Jean Lemaire-Poussin, before entering the Bon Boulogne workshop, where he rubbed shoulders with young French artists such as Jean Raoux, Nicolas Bertin, or even Robert Levrac-Tournières. Very quickly, his style emerged from the Italianate influence of his master and moved towards the study of Nordic artists, Dou, Mieris, Rembrandt and especially Van Dyck, whose elegance of models, and the richness of the draped. A mention of Mercury also testifies to his attachment to the study of nature and his interest in anatomy.

Few traces remain of the activity of Jean-Baptiste Santerre before 1698, the date on which he was approved by the Royal Academy. His reputation as a portraitist was undoubtedly already well established by this date, since around 1699 he produced the portraits of Boileau and Racine, which testify to his reputation in Parisian artistic cultural circles. The daughter of the Prince of Condé, the Duchess of Burgundy, as well as the Regent will also be among his models. However, Jean-Baptiste Santerre was never considered a rival by the great portrait painters of his time, Nicolas de Largillierre, Hyacinthe Rigaud or François de Troy, and it is essentially to his fantasy figures that he owes his fame.

Our formidable double portrait must have had a turbulent history. Still placed on its original canvas and frame, this large format saw the names of two characters added to its composition, certainly around 1800/1810. At that time a frame from the Empire period framed it, and these names were added by descendants who were not very careful about the details of the history and the faces of their ancestors. The marriage of the two people whose names are inscribed dates back to 1755, approximately sixty years after the creation of our painting. Let us therefore forget the names inscribed, which are now part of the history of the work but with which they perhaps have no genealogical connection.

Characteristic of Santerre by the soft and rosy faces, by the drapes with unnatural breaks, by the postures, this double portrait is composed as two distinct portraits. The first is that of the man, seated at his work table, and the second is that of Madame, as if juxtaposed with the background. The man's collar and red bow are reminiscent of those worn during the reign of Louis XIV, contrasting with his free, graying hair, totally at odds with the fashion of the time.