François de Jullienne (1722–1754) and Marie Élisabeth de Jullienne (Marie Élisabeth de Séré de Rieux, 1724–1795)
Charles Antoine Coypel
1743 · Pastel, black chalk, watercolor, and traces of black chalk underdrawing on four joined sheets of handmade blue laid paper, mounted on canvas and adhered to a keyed stretcher · European Paintings
This double portrait is among the most technically brilliant by Coypel, who was a member of the French Royal Academy and official painter to King Louis XV. He used dazzling and unerring control of a variety of media (primarily pastel, but also chalk and watercolor) to capture the wide range of textures, including lace and velvet. The sitters are traditionally identified as Marie Elisabeth de Séré de Rieux and her husband François de Jullienne, son of a wealthy textile merchant, collector, and patron of Antoine Watteau. The direct gaze of the sitters, related to Coypel’s interest in the theater, is a conceit he used regularly.
- Artist
- Charles Antoine Coypel
- Date
- 1743
- Medium
- Pastel, black chalk, watercolor, and traces of black chalk underdrawing on four joined sheets of handmade blue laid paper, mounted on canvas and adhered to a keyed stretcher
- Department
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Annette de la Renta, 2011
