Portrait of Louis de Silvestre

Getty Museum

Portrait of Louis de Silvestre

Creator

Maurice-Quentin de La Tour

French Artist · 1704–1788

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> I penetrate into the depths of my subjects without their knowing it, and capture them whole. > > -- Maurice-Quentin de La Tour > > Finished pastels emerged as a format for elite portraiture in France in the late 1600s. In the 1700s, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour was among the most celebrated and accomplished pastel portraitists. His success led to commissions from the royal family, the French court

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Object Description · Getty Museum

>...the clarity of the cold carnation of the old skin, the creases of the smile, the folds made by the passage of time; the powerful pleating of the forehead... The Goncourt brothers, influential art critics and collectors, were truly moved by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour's portrait of the director of the Académie Royale, Louis de Silvestre. Other painters and draftsmen had produced formal portraits of this important figure, but none captured de Silvestre as frankly and naturally as in this preparation for a more elaborate pastel, now in the collection of the Musee Antoine-Lécuyer, St. Quentin, France. De Silvestre appears in an unguarded moment without his wig. The scarf tied around his head suggests he is working in his studio. La Tour candidly recorded his 73-year-old subject's blood vessels, wrinkles, and moles, giving De Silvestre realistic human qualities that formal portraiture of the period did not often capture. He and La Tour were friends, which also contributes to the intimacy of the portrait. Made seven years before de Silvestre's death, this drawing strikingly conveys the physical effects of age.

Getty Museum’s catalogue record

produced_by.carried_out_by[0].id
https://data.getty.edu/museum/collection/person/3180991e-139d-4a8c-943d-55f7f2b67583
Artist/Maker
Maurice-Quentin de La Tour
subject_of[Homepage].id
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/108RV5
Date
about 1753
Medium
Black and white chalk and pastel, on blue paper (now discolored)
Culture
French
Object Type
Drawing

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A detailed sketch of an elderly person wearing a headscarf.

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Open this page QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.DT2QgkdWp0ABjuR9.mqLZh_-buElRWcNgLj1tpR7Fl6p4x-ShqvPS-ydpcNEmfBJT1nLKYUAewpeMkTQFXp0EL8EgOfst-4lFusdLchjHLoQPA0TX8KL9qw76ikp7cffC_pCIjrAMMVFy48W8HHrqdSFwqV_VNyHNifGOUpkRRo6OEX9dms0GfoSuvSFK1epZc-lkofZ_dImZ86gDPDnoz0xCLzDBWUSwCS2_yEOImrir7_arkCbEaD3WnA5RB5W7eOg3VYTegsIOVP2VusLkLsSIXPA0nj1vXEamXoDWRZqsAZm9RtjK13Mzoiee0_tVJrp2CqH31dIB7pJhqr77OqoIhD8JcHle_yRpSyraNILsAA6Ul2W8I5IlUtuFHJf7eQscGglyDAaCurZj1qNqgBMo6glbfjl0MQl4See at Getty Museum QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.NznHljcaIB8Tk9tX.U-h7qnpYBmlJR6D7_ATPEACBmBiHTTImKH50f6s9qFf9wr-iWbh_R3jbFIEuafyxqneGS27l-4_odgeSH7l8zONk0QPolnWXIBXnekMccfC6eZ3_AKtd1taDayUn3Ld4VvrVim9dIP73bcK-oJ80ouGAi2w_xO4yMK-J_yO2L9SF_2un3iim53Oi4QMEBM7ycHQIIioTTwqBv_MH1qY8lgOp7smD2q92rWxlYo8Ach_bAuckrM9DbFaeQ_DERmaa1VskvvsaibcfjLhd75GHboOf0_LY4dSuuVP-5h4h4dWjk1mICUCHCbv5b1_1s_PTrlDQNSuZu6rhO6CNCPqhh3mpBPMcbiDiS6vWUc8y8ma-b9kt7L3f1okfZfY
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Object ID
0ea6d1af-5df8-463f-9e06-a6d48695f0db
Object Type
Drawing
  • Getty Museum field “Object Type” · copied as is
Creator
Maurice-Quentin de La Tour
  • Getty Museum field “Artist/Maker” · copied as is
Culture
French
  • Getty Museum field “Culture” · copied as is
Medium
Black and white chalk and pastel, on blue paper (now discolored)
  • Getty Museum field “Medium” · copied as is
Department
Drawings
  • Getty Museum field “Department” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field · Getty's classification category is stored as department.
Credit Line
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  • Getty Museum field “Standard Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
  • Getty Museum field “Source Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
Date
about 1753
  • Getty Museum field “Date” · copied as is
Begin Year
1753
  • Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.begin_of_the_begin” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field
End Year
1753
  • Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.end_of_the_end” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field

The museum’s own record has not been captured for this object yet, so the museum fields shown above are limited to values LinkedCulture stored unchanged.

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Portrait of Louis de Silvestre

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