Johann Melchior Wyrsch (Buochs, 1732-1798) Portrait... Lot 9

Johann Melchior Wyrsch (Buochs, 1732-1798) Portrait of Hippolyte, Chevalier de Fraisans Oval canvas and original stretcher. Inscription on the reverse: "Hyppolite Chevalier / de Fraisans Officer / of artillery / aged 20 years in 1784 / painted by Wyrsch". Height: 45 cm, width: 37 cm (small lifts, small chips in the frame). Provenance: acquired from the Joseph Han gallery, Paris, in 1973 by the present owners. An 18th century portrait of Hippolyte, Chevalier de Fraisans, by Johann Melchior Wyrsch. Oil on canvas. Marie Joseph Hippolyte Pourcheresse de Fraisans, known as the Chevalier de Fraisans, came from a family that owned forges in the Jura, was an officer in the royal artillery corps in Besançon, emigrated in 1793, and became a battalion commander and deputy director of the royal artillery school in Besançon during the Restoration. A Swiss painter, Johann Melchior Wyrsch founded a school of painting and sculpture in Besançon in 1773 with the sculptor Luc Breton. He was a popular portraitist in the Franche-Comté society who painted many portraits of officers garrisoned in Besançon, or the portrait of the de Mollans family in the salon of their hotel Pourcheresse d'Etrabonne de Besançon (1773), sold at the 21st Garden-Party sale on June 7, 2009, Château de Cheverny, n°73. In 1784, the artist was declared an honorary citizen of the city of Besançon for services rendered. He left that same year for Lucerne, where he created another school of painting.