Portrait Of The Countess Of Meslay, Hyacinthe Rigaud And Studio, Around 1700

Portrait of Anne-Catherine de Labriffe (1678-1701), Countess of Meslay
by Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743) and studio
Circa 1698-1701
Oil on canvas, oval shape, h. 81 cm, w. 63.5 cm
Gilded and carved wooden frame from the Louis XIV period
Framed: h. 110 cm, l. 93 cm

Bibliography: published in the online catalogue raisonné devoted to Hyacinthe Rigaud by Stéphane Perreau, doctor of art history and specialist in the artist, under the number p. 563-3 as Hyacinthe Rigaud and studio.

Featured in bust, turned three-quarters, the young countess aged 20 proudly looks at the viewer seen almost from the front. The deliberately raised chin and lowered eyelids give her face an air of pride and majesty. Curly brown hair styled in Fontanges, held back by a tiara of set pearls and animated by a blue ribbon that wraps around a lock as it descends onto her chest. Dressed in a silk dress, with a neckline decorated with a garnet, she wears a black velvet coat, decorated with embroidery whose sober character contrasts with its shimmering brocade lining. The red drapery elegantly positioned to the left of the model, recalls Rigaud's passion for fabrics, making the representation theatrical and solemn. The plain brown background contrasts with intense lighting concentrated on the model's face and chest.
Thus, in a Caravaggio-esque spirit, the young woman emerges from the darkness in all her Louis XIV splendor.

Related works:
Our portrait is an oval-format version of the portrait of the countess painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1698, currently held in a private collection in London (Oil on canvas, H. 82; W. 65, London, The Schorr collection. Signed and dated on the back, on the original canvas: "hyacinthe Rigaud Pinxit 1698").

The artist's account book mentions at least six replicas (1697, 1698, 1701).

Bibliography: "Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743): Catalogue concis de l'œuvre" by Stéphane Perreau, 2013, Nouvelles presses du Languedoc éd., cat. p. 563, pages 139-140)

According to Stéphane Perreau, the face of our portrait is painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud himself, while the clothes are made by his studio assistants. The young woman was probably loved and missed, as evidenced by the numerous repetitions of her portrait, commissioned during her lifetime or posthumously by members of her family.

Anne-Catherine de Labriffe, Countess of Meslay (1678-1701) was one of the daughters of the first marriage of the attorney general Arnaud II de Labriffe [P.669] with Marthe-Agnès Potier de Novion, daughter of the academician Nicolas Potier de Novion (1618-1693), president of the Paris Parliament. The young woman became Countess of Meslay through her marriage in 1690 to the parliamentary advisor Jean-Baptiste Rouillé (1656-1715), knight, lord and Count of Meslay-le-Vidame. The couple had only one son, Anne-Jean (1696-1725), the last of his branch. The Countess died on March 1, 1701 in Paris, aged just 23.