Portrait d'Auguste de Lamoignon, fils de Francois-Chrétien de Lamoignon et Elisabeth Berryer

This portrait, painted in 1850, reflects the conventions of nineteenth-century portraiture in the aftermath of the 1848 revolutions that swept Europe. Louis-Léopold Boilly, a French painter who brilliantly captured Parisian street life across four political regimes, brings trompe-l'oeil effects to the depiction of the sitter. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays miniaturist precision in oil, meticulous rendering of fashionable dress and domestic interiors, genre scenes crowded with sharply observed social types.

The portrait is rendered with trompe-l'oeil effects that characterizes Louis-Léopold Boilly's best work. Oil on canvas provides a rich ground for the subtle gradations of flesh tone and the textural contrasts between skin, fabric, and background that give the image its convincing presence.