Portrait of Alexandre Legentil

From the Getty Museum record

A businessman and dedicated philanthropist, Alexandre Legentil appears in his everyday clothing – a long black jacket over loose gray trousers – with his arms modestly crossed and right hand raised thoughtfully to his chin. The soft velvet armchair, patterned carpet, and inkstand with tortoiseshell veneer and gilt-bronze mounts indicate his status as a cultivated bourgeois gentleman. The rightward orientation of his body reverses that of his wife in the [companion portrait][1] that Hippolyte Flandrin painted the previous year (1857), while the green-and-red color scheme of his surroundings contrasts effectively with the striking blue and yellow notes in the earlier work. By the time Alexandre commissioned his likeness, he was well acquainted with the celebrated Flandrin, who had painted mural decorations for Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, the Legentils’ parish church in Paris. The painter shared a strong religious sensibility with his patron, who in later years initiated the construction of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre. [1]: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/1SN2ZV