Mr Dupuy

Jean Ranc was a French portrait painter who trained under Rigaud and spent much of his later career at the Spanish court of Philip V, becoming one of the principal portraitists of the Bourbon dynasty in Madrid. This 1698 portrait of Mr Dupuy belongs to his early Parisian period, before his departure for Spain, when he was working in the established tradition of formal French portraiture he had absorbed from his master.

The sitter is shown in standard three-quarter format with a composed, dignified bearing. Ranc's brushwork in the costume and wig reveals his training under Rigaud's influence, with careful attention to the textures of fabric and the modeling of the face in cool sidelight.