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Portrait of Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert, Comte de Richbourg-le-Toureil
Also known as: Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert; Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert, Comte de Richbourg-le- Toureil
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
signed on back of original canvas: peint par / N. de Largillierre / 1734
Provenance
Anne Louis Goislard de Montsabert and the Montsabert family Possibly Comte André de Ganay [1863-1912], Paris1 Charles Fairfax Murray [1849 – 1919], London, sold to Thomas Agnew & Sons (Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, sold to Calouste S. Gulbenkian)1 Calouste S. Gulbenkian [1869 –1955], sold to Thomas Agnew & Sons (Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, sold to Charles Fairfax Murray) Charles Fairfax Murray [1849 – 1919], London (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Fairfax Murray sale, June 15, 1914, no. 24, sold to Bousquet) 1914-: Bousquet 1 1959-1966: Galerie Cailleux, Paris, sold to the Detroit Institute of Arts with funds provided by Ernest Kanzler 1 1966-1967: Ernest Kanzler [1892-1967], Detroit, MI 1 1967-1970: The estate of Ernest Kanzler and Rosemarie Kanzler, sold to Eugene V. Thaw 1970: (Eugene V. Thaw, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1 1970-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971). N. De Largillierre and the Role of the Portrait in 18th Century France. Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (September 15-November 15, 1981). Nicolas de Largillierre and the Role of the Portrait in 18th Century France. Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (organizer) (September 19-November 15, 1981). Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Nicolas de Largillière (French, 1656–1746)
- Date
- 1734
- Medium
- 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.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1970.31
More by Nicolas de Largillière in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009408
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