Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles at age 4

Marie-Jean Herault de Sechelles, shown at age four in this 1763 portrait, would grow up to become a leading figure of the French Revolution—president of the National Convention and a member of the Committee of Public Safety before being guillotined in 1794 at age thirty-four. This childhood portrait preserves the innocent face of a boy who would play a dramatic role in the overthrow of the very aristocratic world Drouais"s art celebrated. Drouais was among the most successful portraitists of pre-Revolutionary France, working in the tradition of his father Hubert Drouais and studying under Carle van Loo, Natoire, and Boucher before establishing himself at court.

The four-year-old is rendered with Drouais"s characteristic sensitivity to child subjects, the round features and bright eyes typical of his youngest sitters. The costume indicates an aristocratic family, rendered with the precise detail that marked Drouais"s treatment of fine fabrics. The palette is gentle and warm, appropriate to the tender age of the subject. Nothing in the portrait hints at the dramatic fate awaiting this child.