First thought for the portrait of Cathelineau
Black stone and grey wash.
31.5 x 20 cm
Our study is a first thought for the Portrait of Jacques Cathelineau, generalissimo of the Vendée (1759-1793), commissioned by Louis XVIII for the guard room of the Château de Saint-Cloud in 1816. The painting belonged to the collections of the Louvre and Versailles, and is now on deposit at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Chollet (see the catalog of the exhibition Girodet 1767-1824, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2005-2006, n° 70, reproduced).
Louis XVI had the portraits of most of the Vendean leaders painted. Girodet was commissioned to paint those of Bonchamps and Cathelineau, according to very precise indications of pose and historical details. It was Cathelineau's son who posed for this posthumous portrait. The painting was exhibited at the 1824 Salon.
Nicknamed the "Saint of Anjou", because of his great piety and well before the beginning of the Revolution, Jacques Cathelineau was from a modest family and was one of the main leaders of the Vendée. The uprising, which had been brewing for two years, began in February 1793 when some young men refused to be conscripted. They soon numbered several thousand, achieving success after success, and on June 12, 1793, Cathelineau was named generalissimo of the Catholic and royal army. He was mortally wounded at the siege of Nantes on June 29 and died on July 14.
His three brothers also died between 1793 and 1794. The family was ennobled at the Restoration.
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