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Lot Essay
François-Hubert Drouais’ portrait of Bernard Dufort, Comte de Cheverny was likely painted either shortly before or in commemoration of the sitter’s fifteenth birthday. He is shown adorned with the red rosette of the Order of Saint Louis—a distinction that foreshadows the military career that lay ahead. Dufort entered the Liancourt regiment of Dragoons around 1771, and in 1778 his father secured him a commission in the Bourbon Dragoons cavalry regiment. He married Élizabeth Cabeuil in 1785, and died in 1799 at the age of forty-one, following a prolonged illness of the throat.
The portrait was painted when Drouais’ career was at its zenith. Appointed official painter to the king in 1762, he had established himself as one of the most sought-after portraitists at the French court. His celebrated likeness of Madame de Pompadour, painted in 1764 (London, National Gallery, inv. no. NG6440), remains one of the defining images of the period. To be painted by Drouais was a mark of courtly favor and social ambition. When Madame du Barry ascended rapidly to the position of maîtresse-en-titre to Louis XV in 1768, she sat for Drouais almost immediately upon her arrival at Versailles, and continued to do so annually until 1774.
The portrait was painted when Drouais’ career was at its zenith. Appointed official painter to the king in 1762, he had established himself as one of the most sought-after portraitists at the French court. His celebrated likeness of Madame de Pompadour, painted in 1764 (London, National Gallery, inv. no. NG6440), remains one of the defining images of the period. To be painted by Drouais was a mark of courtly favor and social ambition. When Madame du Barry ascended rapidly to the position of maîtresse-en-titre to Louis XV in 1768, she sat for Drouais almost immediately upon her arrival at Versailles, and continued to do so annually until 1774.