Portrait de Henri d'Orléans duc d'Aumale

Portrait of Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale (1896), held in the Musée Condé at Chantilly — a museum and estate that the Duke himself founded — is among the most historically significant portraits Benjamin-Constant produced. Henri d'Orléans (1822–1897) was the fifth son of King Louis-Philippe, a distinguished military commander in Algeria, a bibliophile, collector, and art patron of the first rank who bequeathed his magnificent collections at Chantilly to the Institut de France. Commissioning his own portrait from Benjamin-Constant the year before his death, and housing it at Chantilly, was a deliberate act of self-memorialization by one of the last great aristocratic patrons of the nineteenth century. Benjamin-Constant painted the portrait at the peak of his reputation as portraitist to the European and American elites, having recently completed commissions for the Boston Public Library and various British notables. The setting at Chantilly — surrounded by the collections the Duke had assembled — gives the portrait its full meaning as a testament to a life of cultural patronage.

Benjamin-Constant positions the Duke within a setting that alludes to his collection and military distinction, using spatial depth to integrate figure and environment. His mature portrait technique employs decisive, loaded brushstrokes in the figure's costume and a more controlled, blended touch in the face to ensure the psychological presence of the sitter.