Attributable to Hyacinthe Rigaud (Perpignan 1659 - Paris 1743) Portrait of the painter Charles de La Fosse (1636-1716) oil on canvas (cm 60 x 52/ In a valuable frame cm 113 x 78) Full details at the following - link - The person portrayed in the present painting is the painter Charles de La Fosse (1636 - 1716), known as the "best decorative painter of his time", a student of Charles Le Brun in Paris and his close collaborator in the decoration works carried out under Louis XIV. This is a painting that we are inclined to place in the early eighteenth century and attributable to the painter Hyacinthe RIGAUD (Perpignan 1659 - Paris 1743) - or, for scruple, to an author active within his prolific workshop - one of the most significant portrait painters of his time and a great interpreter of the French school, having worked almost exclusively at the courts of Louis XIV and then Louis XV. Linked by a strong friendship, Rigaud used his fellow painter as a model on numerous occasions: the first of these portraits is the one he painted on oval canvas in 1681 and today in a private Parisian collection [1], although the best known is the one preserved today in Berlin at Charlottenburg Castle [2], which Rigaud exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1704. Perhaps also thanks to the success he had with this painting, many others followed, including the portrait now kept at the Pinacoteca of the Castello Sforzesco [3] - which finds the greatest stylistic similarities with our painting - and also that of Private Collection, which passed on the art market in 1979 (Paris, Palais d'Orsay, 7 December, no. 40) In addition to the very famous official portraits of sovereigns, members of the French high aristocracy and the French clergy, Rigaud has in fact often given his best in the portraits of his artist friends where, as in our case, he managed to combine an elegant dignity with great intimacy, an aspect that we can, for example, grasp in the detail of the unbuttoned shirt, which translates an evident affectionate sympathy towards the model. In works like these we can grasp Rigaud's sensibility, who becomes a fine psychologist, a delicate, flexible and virtuous artist. The effigy shows the painter in a relaxed pose, his gaze turned to the right, lost outside the composition, but full of great humanity. It is therefore a work of notable formal and aesthetic elegance. Note the rendering of the facial features, the sharpness of the contours underlined by the light and the expressive force of the eyes accentuated by the realism of the facial features. [1] Portrait of Charles de La Fosse, Rigaud Hyacinthe Private collection (oval oil on canvas, 83x66, Paris URL: https://www.hyacinthe-rigaud.com/catalogue-raisonne-hyacinthe-rigaud/portraits/50-la-fosse-charles-d... [2] Portrait of Charles de La Fosse, Rigaud Hyacinthe (Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg). Inv. GKI 2625 URL: https://www.hyacinthe-rigaud.com/catalogue-raisonne-hyacinthe-rigaud/portraits/327-la-fosse-charles-... [3] Portrait of Charles de La Fosse, Rigaud Hyacinthe (Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco) URL: https://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/opere-arte/schede/B0020-00486/ The work is presented in a good state of conservation and is completed by a magnificent antique carved wooden frame. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The painting is sold with a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet. We take care of and organize the transport of purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers. Contact us for any information, we will be happy to answer you. Follow us also on: https://www.instagram.com/galleriacastelbarco/?hl=it https://www.facebook.com/galleriacastelbarco/