Portrait of a General Officer

1710 · Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

portrait

For his military portraits Rigaud's regular formula is to present the figure in modern armour in three-quarter- or full-length, against a landscape background which usually shows a battle in progress. This is quite different from the convention of the previous generation, when generals preferred to be shown in the dress and action of a Roman Imperator. Rigaud's portraits depend on van Dyck, but in the introduction of the battle scene in the background he is following a tradition already familiar in France.

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About the Artist

Hyacinthe Rigaud

1659 – 1743

French portrait painter, the friend and rival of Largillière. He was born in Perpignan and after working in Montpellier he settled in Paris in 1681. His reputation was established in 1688 with a portrait (now lost) of Monsieur, Louis XIV's brother, and he became the outstanding court painter of the latter part of Louis's reign, retaining his popularity after the king's death. He was less interested in showing individual character than in depicting the rank and condition of the sitter by nobility of attitude and expressiveness of gesture. These qualities are seen most memorably in his celebrated state portrait of Louis XIV (Louvre, Paris, 1701), one of the classic images of royal majesty. Louis so admired this portrait that, although he had intended it as a present to Philip V of Spain, he kept it himself. Rigaud's unofficial portraits are much more informal and show a debt to Rembrandt ( The Artist's Mother, Louvre, 1695), several of whose works he owned. The output from Rigaud's studio was vast and examples are in many collections.

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