Portrait Of Joseph-marie Lambel, Figure Of The French Revolution In Aveyron.

Portrait of Joseph-Marie Lambel, French politician born May 12, 1743 in Mur-de-Barrez and died in the same place on April 30, 1807 (Rue du Faubourg). Son of François Lambel (17..-1772), merchant-bourgeois from Mur-de-Barrez and Marie-Anne Verdier de Cabanes (1708-1748). His early life is poorly known. The law studies he had to undertake to practice his profession as a lawyer were not found in the directories of students from the south; he undoubtedly took courses in Paris, Limoges or Clermont-Ferrand. On May 28, 1777, he received the letter of provision for the Office of royal notary at the residence of Mur-de-Barrez, county of Carladès. The Departmental Archives do not keep a register of his study, but a directory (AD Aveyron; 90 L 8). He is still cited as a notary from year IV to year VII. On April 30, 1772 in Mur-de-Barrez, he married Jeanne Marie Dubus de La Mothe (1740-1813) with whom he had 6 children, 2 girls and 4 boys. Notary, lawyer, he was elected deputy of the third estate to the States General on May 27, 1789 for the seneschal of Villefranche-de-Rouergue. He sits in the reformist majority, calls for the abolition of titles of nobility, he declares to the national assembly: “I ask that all people be prohibited from taking the qualities of count, baron, marquis, etc. ". He also presents an amendment to the project relating to the payment of the patriotic contribution. He was a judge at the Mur-de-Barrez district court in 1790, then elected administrator of the Aveyron department on September 16, 1791. Very likely made in a Parisian workshop, the portrait takes up the codes launched at the end of the old regime, model presented in three quarters on a plain and deliberately sober background which highlights the subject. The rendering of this collection, the textiles and the wig is reminiscent of the portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun of Alexandre Charles Emmanuel de Crussol-Florensac (New York, Metropolitan Museum). The portrait also bears an inscription in cursive at the top left specifying the identity of the model: “Joseph Lambel lawyer of the Mur de Barrés member of the National Assembly. 1789-1790”. Related works: There is an engraved portrait of JMLambel, from the collection of portraits of deputies published by Le Vachez in the archives of the Société des Lettres Sciences et Arts de l'Aveyron (see Report 1880, p.170-171 ). This portrait bears the signature of the designer Charles-Toussaint Labadye (1771-1798), and the engraver Jean Tessier (1750-17..). It is part of the collection of the “Collection of portraits of MM. the deputies to the National Assembly of 1789” published by the print dealer Dejabin in Paris. Another drawn portrait is kept in Paris at the BnF. This is a drawing in black pencil and heightened with gouache by the designer Mercier. This drawing belongs to the set of original drawings for the collection of portraits of deputies published in Paris by Charles-François Le Vachez.