Pierre Rabon (18 October 1619 – 18 January 1684) was a French portrait painter, who was active during the reign of Louis XIV.Benezit 2006.
Early life Rabon was born in Le Havre.
Career Rabon became a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture on 3 July 1660.Montaiglon 1875, p. 169. His reception piece was a portrait of Antoine de Ratabon, who at the time was both Superintendent of Buildings (Surintendant des Bâtiments) and the director of the Académie.Montaiglon 1893, p. 27.Williams 2015, p. 313. His portrait of Ratabon was for a long time believed to have been lost,Fontaine 1914, p. 250. but in 1994, a painting in the collection of the Château de Versailles, which had previously been identified by Albert Laprade as a portrait of the architect Louis Le Vau, was proposed as more likely to be Rabon's portrait of Ratabon. The subject of this portrait was identified as Louis Le Vau in 1955 by Albert Laprade, who recognized the plan as that of the southwest corner of the old Louvre, that is the Bathing Apartment of the Queen Mother Anne d'Autriche, remodeled by Le Vau in the summer of 1661, and the building illustrated in the background as the pavilion at the north end of the Louvre's Petite Galerie, constructed after the fire of 6 February 1661 (see also Laprade 1960, chapter 3, plate 1). Christophe Hardouin disputed Laprade's attribution in an unpublished thesis for the University of Paris and identified the painting as Pierre Rabon's presentation piece before the Academy on 3 July 1660, which portrayed Antoine de Ratabon (1617–1670), Surintendant des Bâtiments (see Thierry Bajou; also Hilary Ballon 1999, p. 201, note 8, who was unable to examine the thesis but cites Bajou). Bajou comments that the "building plan and the facade therefore correspond to projects and not to completed buildings. It is unfortunately, just as impossible to confirm this identification, by comparing the sitter's features with those in other painted, sculpted or engraved portraits."
Rabon exhibited a portrait of a Monsieur Perier at the Paris Salon of 1673. His other works include Portrait of a Woman (private collection) and three other portraits known from engravings: Claude Gallard, Councillor at the Parlement, engraved by Jean-Baptiste Humbelot; Louis Roupert, Master Goldsmith at Metz, engraved by ; and Hyacinthe Serroni, Archbishop of Albi, engraved by Gantrel. There are also records of copies commissioned by the Bâtiments du Roi: Christ on the Cross after Charles Le Brun in 1667 for the Menagerie at Versailles and Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV after Mignard in 1671.Bajou 1998, p. 76.
In 2000, the painting Saint John Preaching in the Desert (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Carcassonne), previously believed to be a work by Sébastien Bourdon, was reattributed to Pierre Rabon.Collection des Musées de France (Joconde), Reférence 04400001087.
Personal life Pierre Rabon married Louise Gomboust on 29 October 1643.Jal 1872, p. 1030. Their son, Nicolas Rabon (1644–1686), became a history painter. Pierre Rabon died in Paris.
Gallery
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Bibliography Bajou, Thierry (1998). La peinture à Versailles : XVIIe siècle. [English edition: Paintings at Versailles: XVIIth Century, translated by Elizabeth Wiles-Portier, p. 76.] Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux. . (English edition). Ballon, Hilary (1999). Louis Le Vau: Mazarin's Collège, Colbert's Revenge. Princeton University Press. . Benezit Dictionary of Artists (2006), vol. 11, p. 575 ("Rabon, Pierre" and "Rabon, Nicolas"). Paris: Gründ. . Fontaine, André (1914). Académiciens d'autrefois. Paris: H. Laurens. Copy at Internet Archive. Hardouin, Christophe (1994). "La Collection de portraits de l'Académie royale de Peinture et de Sculpture: Peintures entrées sous le règne de Louis XIV (1648–1715", Mémoire de D.E.A., Université de Paris IV, 1994, pp. 164–166. Jal, Auguste (1872). "Rabon (Pierre), — (Nicolas)", pp. 1030–1031, in Dictionnaire critique de biographie et d'histoire, 2nd edition. Paris: Henri Plon. Title page at Gallica. Laprade, Albert (1955). "Portraits des premiers architectes de Versailles", Revue des Arts, March 1955, pp. 21–24. Laprade, Albert (1960). François d'Orbay: Architecte de Louis XIV. Paris: Éditions Vincent, Fréal. . Montaiglon, Anatole de (1875). Procès-verbaux de l'Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, 1648-1793, Volume 1 (1648–1672). Paris: Charavay frères. Copy at Internet Archive. Montaiglon, Anatole de (1893). Descriptions de l'Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture par son secrétaire Nicolas Guérin et par Antoine-Nicolas Dézallier d'Argenville le fils (1715–1781). Paris: La Société de propagation des livres d'art. Copy at Gallica. Williams, Hannah (2015). Académie Royale: A History in Portraits. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate. .