Portrait Of A Man In Armor, Jean De Poix (1649 - 1721)

French school of the end of the 17th century Portrait of Jean de Poix de Clérant (circa 1649 - 1721)
Lord of La Motte, brigadier of the Roy's household, Major of the city of Saint-Quentin
Cavalry captain

Our portrait shows a man in armor decorated with the order of Saint-Louis, wearing the long "cascade" wig in vogue under Louis XIV with a red lavaliere tied "in the manner of a bow tie, fashionable in the years 1680-1690. Military portraits are reserved for powerful men who thus assert their power by a representation that is not without recalling court portraits.

The sponsor had himself represented in front of a city which must be Saint-Quentin in Picardy where he was major. Under the old regime, the major was the commander of a stronghold after the governor and the lieutenant of the king. An old label on the back indicates de Poix de Clérant de Lamotte, commander of the City of Saint-Quentin, Father of Madame Devraine.
Several spellings of the name have come down to us, Clairant and Clérant.

The model's costume allows us to date the portrait before 1700, so it would be Jean de Poix (circa 1649 - 1721), father of Jean Alexandre de Poix (1690- ?), father of Marie Anne Gabrielle de Poix (1728-1804) who married Etienne Firmin Martin de Vraine (1717-1793) whose daughter Angélique (1753-1831) married Augustin d'Aboville (1776-1843).

Our portrait, which has remained in the descendants, comes from a castle of the d'Aboville family.
The portrait, originally oval, was made rectangular during an old relining, it presents restorations of the pictorial layer and the canvas is mounted on a stretcher with keys.

Oil on canvas 87cm x 68cm
Gilded wooden frame decorated in the Bérain style (accidents) 110cm x 91cm