Nicolas Louis Faret

Martin Drölling's pendant portrait of Nicolas Louis Faret from 1812 pairs with the portrait of his wife, following the standard convention of matching husband-and-wife portraits. The Faret family represented the prosperous Parisian professional class that supported Napoleon's regime. Drölling's careful, documentary approach to portraiture preserves the appearance and social position of his sitters with faithful precision.

The oil-on-canvas portrait shows Drölling's smooth, meticulous technique with careful attention to the sitter's costume and physiognomy. The neutral background and even lighting focus attention on the subject's features, following the conventions of French bourgeois portraiture.