Grimod de La Reynière

Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière (1758-1837) was one of the most colorful personalities of post-Revolutionary Paris — a gastronome, satirist, and eccentric who published the Almanach des gourmands from 1803 to 1812, the first serious guide to Parisian dining. Boilly's portrait of this gastronome connects two observers of Parisian social life: de La Reynière catalogued its tables while Boilly catalogued its manners and spaces. A portrait commission from de La Reynière would have been a socially desirable acquisition, embedding Boilly's name within the cultural network of the literary and gastronomic bourgeoisie.

Boilly renders de La Reynière with the particularizing focus of a devoted portraitist — eccentric personality conveyed through the specificity of the face rather than symbolic attribute. His smooth paint surface gives even the elderly sitter's features a clarity and presence that resists idealization.