LOUIS-GABRIEL BLANCHET Lot n° 13

(Versailles, 1701 - Rome, 1772) Portrait of Sir Marc, secretary to Cardinal François-Joachim Pierre de Bernis (1715 - 1794) Signed and dated lower right Oil on canvas, 73.5X60.5 cm Provenance: Paris, Aguttes, March 28, 2023, lot 57 (as Louis-Gabriel Blanchet) Having won the Prix de Rome in 1727, Blanchet moved to the French Academy in Rome with Pierre Subleyras. Like his fellow student, with whom he shared an apartment in the Palazzo Mancini, he remained forever in Rome where he distinguished himself as a fine portrait painter, primarily for the court of James II Stuart and the circle of the French ambassador, the Duc de Saint-Aignan. From here, his best known and appreciated work today is the Portrait of John Paul Panini, extraordinary for its immediacy and refined freedom, but also portraits of various French prelates, including that of Father Lesour and in this case, of Sir Marc, secretary to Cardinal François-Joachim Pierre de Bernis (1715-1794).