Charles Revel - Portrait Of An Incredible

Charles REVEL Lyon, 1829 – around 1880 Oil on wooden panel 32.5 x 24.5 cm (38 x 30.5 cm with the frame) Signed lower right “Ch. Revel” Charles Revel is a Lyon painter who studied at the School of Fine Arts with Claude Bonnefond. He exhibited genre scenes and portraits at the Salon between 1864 and 1880. Our painting is a portrait of an “Incredible”. The “Incredibles” were those French people who adopted an extravagant style of clothing after the death of Robespierre in 1794 and the end of the Terror. They did not pronounce the “r” for fear of recalling the Revolution! “The “Incredibles” wear an English frock coat which is shortened in front and lengthened behind, the waistcoat is shorter, the breeches become wider, the collar covers the nape of the neck entirely, the jabot is more voluminous to the point of hiding the chin. They no longer wear heels, but flat shoes or high boots. Extravagant hairstyles and wigs are replaced by a new cut: the hair falls over the ears and floats over the shoulders. These men always had a spiral club in their hands, which they called their “executive power”.