The Comte de Vaudreuil

Artist: François-Hubert Drouais (French, 1727 - 1775)

Original Dimensions: 88 3/4" x 63 1/2"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (1758) "In this imposing portrait, designed to emphasis its sitter’s wealth and status, the eighteen-year-old comte de Vaudreuil (1740–1817) points at a map of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). His father was governor of the island, then a French colony, and the count earned substantial income from enslaved labour on its plantations. Vaudreuil was a junior army officer, but instead of his uniform he wears a blue velvet coat lined with squirrel fur and a brocade waistcoat with festoons of gold and silver lace. His wig is tied in place by a black silk ribbon fastened in a bow at the neck. The red heels on his shoes indicate his aristocratic status. Drouais’s idealising portraits often flattered his sitters. Although still only a young man and hardly in need of flattery, the count has a flawless complexion with rosy cheeks and lips and large, bright eyes. The portrait has an air of informality and, rather than military stiffness, Vaudreuil’s long slender body has a slight tilt." - (National Gallery of Art, London)