(Geneva 1702–1789)
Portrait of a nobleman, half-length,
pastel on parchment, 69.5 x 58 cm, framed

Provenance:
art market, Switzerland;
Private collection, France

Literature:
M. Roethlisberger/R. Loche, Liotard. Catalogue, Sources et Correspondance, Doornspijk 2008, vol. I, p. 333, cat. no. 132, illustrated vol. II, fig. 218 (as Jean-Étienne Liotard);
N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800. Jean-Étienne Liotard, Named sitters F-L, online version, updated February 2024, p. 10, no. J.49.1733 (as Jean-Étienne Liotard)

The present portrait appeared on the Swiss art market in 1954 together with a pendant of a female sitter, and the works were thought to be portraits of Count Wenzel Anton Kaunitz-Rietberg and his wife Maria Ernestine, née von Starhemberg. Both paintings had a tentative attribution to Liotard before being fully accepted as autograph works by Marcel Roethlisberger in his catalogue raisonné published in 2008 (see literature). Roethlisberger did not support the identification of the present sitter as Count Kaunitz, however an Austrian provenance would be plausible.

Jean-Étienne Liotard developed a style of portraiture distinguishing himself from the work of other artists and the fashions of the time. His artistic approach to his subjects, regardless of their rank, was extraordinarily direct. His sitters were all set in a space of little depth, simply lit, against a plain, mostly grey-brown, background. He did not embellish his subjects through the use of particular poses or symbols. His success lay in his ability to achieve a close likeness of his sitter, his keen gift of observation, his measured style and the simplicity of his compositions.

The sitter in the present work is a person of rank, wearing a powdered wig and fur-trimmed coat. A particular feature here is the differences in Liotard’s treatment of the various details. While the execution of the pinkish coat is rapid and vigorous, with a lot of hatching, leaving a glimpse of the parchment support in places, the head and fur trim are accurately portrayed with great care and precision. This variety of treatments would disappear in the more uniform finish of the master’s later pastels.

The painting technique is close to Liotard’s style during his sojourn in Vienna from 1743 to 1745. He found favour at court and painted the Empress Maria Theresia and other royal portraits, such as the Portrait of the Empress Maria Theresia today conserved in Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna, which shows a similar handling and treatment of the hair and face, as well as the fur trimming and the detailing in the white blouse (see op. cit. Roethlisberger/Loche, 2008, vol. I, p. 304, cat. no. 107, reproduced vol. II, fig. 157). The execution of the present pastel is also comparable to the Portrait of a Grand Vizir painted by Liotard in Constantinople, where he worked shortly before his stay in Vienna (National Gallery, London, inv. no. NG4460). In Vienna, Liotard also painted his most celebrated pastel, a full-length figure of a chambermaid carrying a tray with a cup of chocolate, La Belle Chocolatière (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, inv. no. P 161).