Portrait of the Comte de Cromot, Superintendent of the Comte de Provence, at an easel,
accompanied by his two daughters-in-law

Images(2)

Portrait of the Comte de Cromot, Superintendent of the Comte de Provence, at an easel,
accompanied by his two daughters-in-law

Additional Title(s)

Portrait de Jules-David de Cromot du Bourg à son chevalet

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1787

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 77 3/4 × 64 in. (197.5 × 162.5 cm.) frame: 90 3/16 × 76 × 3 15/16 in. (229 × 193 × 10 cm.)

DescriptionThis is a full-length portrait of Jules-David Cromot du Bourg, Comte de Cromot (1725–1788), seated at his easel and accompanied by his two daughters-in-law, Sophie de Barral (1713–after 1743) and Marie Sophie Guillauden du Plessis (1767–1846).

SignedSigned and dated lower left: A. Callet 1787

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation.

Label TextThis portrait represents Jules-David Cromot du Bourg, who managed the household finances of the Count of Provence, brother to King Louis XVI. Callet depicts Cromot before an easel, painting a copy of a 17th-century landscape painting, alongside his daughters-in-law Sophie de Barral and Marie Sophie Guillauden du Plessis. Not simply a representation of the sitter's artistic skill, the landscape is Cromot's own work, painted on a separate canvas and glued to Callet's painting. The insertion of Cromot's painting makes his status as a painter the centerpiece of the picture, while the inclusion of his daughters-in-law—one of whom holds a red chalk drawing, presumably by Cromot—demonstrates the family's shared interest in the arts.
Callet is best known for serving as an official painter to Louis XVI, whose life and reign later ended violently following the French Revolution. While much of the French citizenry simmered in political unrest amid economic devastation, Callet's painting offers a window into the leisurely pursuits afforded to the Cromot family through their affiliation with the royal family.

Status

Not on view

Object number2024.14