Portrait of Pierre-Jacques-Onésyme Bergeret

Painted in 1774 and held by the Bibliothèque municipale de Besançon, this portrait of Pierre-Jacques-Onésyme Bergeret was executed shortly after Vincent returned from his Prix de Rome years in Italy. Bergeret was a member of a prominent French family of collectors and financiers; several members of the Bergeret clan were significant supporters of French artists including Fragonard, who accompanied a Bergeret relation on an Italian journey. This portrait dates to early in Vincent's Parisian career and demonstrates his ability to command major professional commissions while still a young artist. The work reflects the transitional moment in French portraiture when the rococo liveliness of Boucher-era likeness painting was giving way to the more sober, character-driven approach associated with Neoclassicism. The Besançon collections hold notable French paintings of the period, and this early portrait has been preserved in a regional institution that maintained important civic cultural holdings.

The portrait employs a three-quarter format with careful attention to the rendering of the sitter's costume as an indicator of social rank. Vincent uses a cooler palette than his later portraits, suggesting the influence of Roman Neoclassical painting absorbed during his academic residency. The finish is polished and meticulous, appropriate to an early career Salon-quality work.