Portrait of Count Franais de Nantes (1756-1836), seated three-quarter length, wearing the blue velvet uniform of a Conseiller d'etat, the Legion d'Honeur and an ornamental cape and holding a hat decorated with feathers.

The present painting seems to be a contemporary copy after the original by Jacques-Louis David, which is signed and dated 1811, and is now in the Muse Jacquemart-Andr, Paris. The original by David is on panel and signed and dated 1811.

Born in 1756, Franais de Nantes had been a Jacobin and deputy of the Assemble Lgislative during the Revolution. Napoleon made him a Count of the Empire in 1808. In June 1811, he became A grand officier de l'ordre de la lgion d'honneur and was named Conseiller d'tat for his lifetime. In 1831, King Louis-Philippe named him member of the Chambre des pairs. He died aged 80, on March 10, 1836.

In a troubled political period, David chose to represent de Nantes in all of his self-importance. Discussing the Jacquemart-Andr picture, Warren Roberts writes 'he is shown from a lower angle and leans back in his chair, projecting a sense of the grandness that his rich trappings express' (W. Roberts, Jacques-Louis David, revolutionary artist, 1989, p. 172).

In an Empire frame.