Portrait of a Sculptor

Artist Jacques Blanchard (French, 1600-1638)

Place of OriginFrance

Dateabout 1632-1635

DimensionsH: 37 5/8 in. (95.5 cm); W: 31 1/2 in. (80 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1955.32

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 24

Label TextTwo clues tell us that this well-dressed gentleman is a sculptor: he holds a sculpting tool in his left hand and emerging from the shadows behind him is what appears to be a terracotta tabletop sculpture of the allegorical figure of Charity. In a pose communicating elegance, the man’s right arm is bent at the elbow, hand resting on his hip while holding a wide-brimmed hat. Greatly admired in the 18th century, painter Jacques Blanchard introduced to France the richness and sensuality of Venetian Renaissance colors, which he combined with the more sober classicism of painters from Rome and Bologna. The Museum owns another painting by Blanchard, Allegory of Charity, also displayed in this gallery.Published ReferencesWaagen, G., Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London, 1854, III, p. 16, (as Poussin, Duquesnoy).

Boyle, M. L., Biographical Catalogue of the Portraits at Panshanger, The Seat of Earl Cowper, K.G., London, 1885, pp. 63-64 (as Poussin, Duquesnoy).

Friedländer, W., Nicholas Poussin, die Entwicklung seiner Kunst, Munich, 1914, p. 111 (as Poussin, Duquesnoy).

Grautoff, O., Nicolas Poussin, sein Werk und sein Leben, Munich and Leipzig, 1914, I, p. 265 (as Poussin, Duquesnoy).

Magne, E., Nicolas Poussin, premier peintre du roi, 1594-1665, Brussels and Paris, 1914, p. 218, no. 327 (as Poussin, Duquesnoy).

B. N. (B. Nicolson), "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions," Burlington Magazine, Now. 1954, p. 362, fig. 28.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, July-September 1955," Art Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1, Spring 1956, p. 73, repr. p. 77.

Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, "French Art, 1600-1800," vol. 3, no. 4, Autumn 1960, repr. p. 75.

Sterling, C., "Les peintres Jean et Jacques Blanchard," Art de France, I, 1961, no. 70, p. 108, repr. p. 105.

Wittmann, Otto, "L'Art Francaise au Musée de Toledo," Connaissance des Arts, no. 125, July 1962, repr. p. 44.

Blunt, A., The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin, A Critical Catalogue, London, 1966, no. R4 (as Blanchard, Duquesnoy).

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Thuillier, Jacques, Tout l'oeuvre Pient de Poussin, Paris, 1974, p. 118, no. R5, repr. (as Blanchard, Duquesnoy).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 23, pl. 181.

Rosenberg, Pierre, "Inventaire des tableaux française du XVIIe Siècle appartenant aux collections publiques des Etats-Unis," La peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines, Paris, 1982, p. 345, no. 11, repr. (Also in English edition New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth Century French Paintings in American Collections, 1982)

Schleier, Erich, "La Peinture Française du XVIIe Siècle dans les Collections Americaines" (review) Kunstchronik, vol. 36, no. 5, May, 1983, p. 230.

Thuillier, Jacques, Jacques Blanchard 1600-1638, Rennes, 1998, no. R37, p. 305, repr.

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Agnew, Autumn Exhibition of Fine Pictures by Old Masters, 1954, no. 15.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Style, Truth, and the Portrait, 1963, no. 5, repr.