A Woman in a Blue Dress by Jean Raoux

Jean Raoux is the pupil of the painter Antoine Ranc in Montpellier, then of Bon Boullogne in Paris, which enables him to gain the price of Rome (1704) and to be pensionnaire of the king in Italy. He stayed in Rome, then Florence, Padua, where he left religious frescoes for its cathedral, and finally Venice, where he became the favourite of Philippe de Vendôme, Grand Prior of the Order of Malta.

A true European artist, Jean Raoux gradually combined his knowledge of Dutch art with his French and Venetian experiences to create an artistic synthesis, marked by blended chromaticism and the art of chiaroscuro. The portrait of a Young Girl Reading a Letter, in the Louvre, is a perfect example of this, with a noticeable influence from the chiaroscuro portraits of Gaspard Netscher (1639-1684) and Godfried Schalken (1643-1706), though less naturalistic and with a Venetian chromaticism.

On his return to Paris in 1711, he became the portraitist of the aristocracy and the world of theatre and dance, although he was admitted to the Académie de peinture et de sculpture as a history painter (1717), at the same time as Antoine Watteau. However, he never became a leading painter, whereas Watteau became famous for his "fêtes galantes". Jean Raoux, for his part, chose "caprice subjects", with isolated figures dressed in fancy costumes and engaged in leisure activities.

The painting in the Château de Champs-sur-Marne is very similar to L'indiscrète (1728), which is in the Musée Calvet in Avignon. It has the same compositional device, with a young woman drawing aside the curtains in an engaging manner. The eroticism remains subtle and refined, but it is very much present, particularly through the bouquet of flowers. The eyes are half-closed, the décolleté open, the throat radiant and white, as if under the effect of a suave spotlight.

Jean Raoux (1677-1734): un peintre sous la Régence, cat. exhibition, Montpellier, Musée Fabre, Paris, Somogy, 2010.