Portrait de Monseignor Rosseau de la Parisière, Évêque de Nîmes en 1711

This portrait of Monseigneur Rosseau de la Parisière, Bishop of Nîmes from 1711, was painted by Charles Joseph Natoire in 1717 — a remarkably early date, as Natoire was born in 1700, which would make him only seventeen at the time. The attribution and date require caution; either the date is approximate, the work was executed slightly later, or it represents a very precocious commission. Rosseau de la Parisière was Bishop of Nîmes, Natoire's native city, which provides the most logical explanation for why a bishop of that diocese should be among the earliest known subjects for the young painter. No current collection is recorded. Such early ecclesiastical portraits would have been important commissions establishing a young artist's local reputation. The portrait belongs to the tradition of French episcopal portraiture that combined the conventions of grand manner portraiture with the specific insignia and vestments of Catholic hierarchy.

Given the early date and the artist's youth at the time of execution, the portrait likely shows Natoire absorbing the conventions of French academic portraiture before developing his mature personal manner. Episcopal vestments provide the compositional structure, and the face would have been the primary technical challenge requiring careful likeness from the life. The work's quality establishes expectations for the career that followed.