Portrait of a Man and His Children

Portrait of a Man and His Children is an early 19th-century group portrait in oil and canvas by an unknown artist, now in the Musée de Tessé in Le Mans, France.

Title and attribution It was formerly titled The Convention Member Michel Gérard and His Family or Portrait of a Convention Member's Family. It returned to public view late in the 19th century, at which time it was attributed to Jacques-Louis David, for example by the art historians Charles Saunier in 1903 and Raymond Escholier in 1936. That attribution is now rejected since its style (for instance its precise attention to detail) is not that of David at that period. Various alternative artists have been suggested, such as Martin Drolling and François-Joseph Navez, but none of these have been conclusively accepted.

History It is recorded in the collection of the member of parliament Abel Vautier in 1861 in Le Magasin pittoresque with the title Gérard as a Father with His Family (le Père Gérard et sa famille)."David et son école" in Le Magasin pittoresque, vol. XXIX, January 1861, p. 1, 2. It was sold on 9 December 1863 by Vautier's heirs. Philippe de Saint-Albin left it to its present owner in 1879 as The Family of Michel Gérard. It was lent to a David exhibition in 1913, where Louis Dimier wrote of it:

References

Sources

Portrait of a Man and His Children

Bron en licentie