Portrait of a Sculptor
Jean Baptiste Santerre·c. 1705
Historical Context
Jean-Baptiste Santerre was a French painter who trained under Bon Boullogne and became known for elegant genre scenes and portraits with a distinctive warm palette. This portrait of a sculptor from around 1705 belongs to the transitional period between the grand manner of Louis XIV and the lighter Rococo style. Santerre was admitted to the Académie Royale in 1704 and was praised for his treatment of flesh tones.
Technical Analysis
The oil on canvas demonstrates Santerre's celebrated ability to render warm, luminous skin tones using thin, translucent glazes. The composition employs Baroque chiaroscuro with soft, diffused light that models the figure with great subtlety.
Provenance
Vermeer Gallery, London, by 1931 [according to a letter from Jules Féral to Anthony F. Reyre, Vermeer Gallery, dated June 29, 1931, copy in curatorial file]; sold to Max Epstein (died 1954), Chicago, 1935 [according to Registrars records and a receipt for shipment to the Art Institute from the Vermeer Gallery dated May 13, 1935, copy in curatorial file]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1954.
