Maurice-Quentin de La Tour

I had the occasion to visit the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena recently and of all the amazing pieces there, this is the one that haunted me long after I left.

As I entered the room my eye went immediately to the piece on the far wall; an amazing painting of a wealthy aristocrat in the most dazzling of brilliant blue coats. The closer I got to the picture, the more intrigued I became. I was taken by the haughty self-confidence the artist had captured: the slightly raised right eyebrow, the minor upward tilt of the head exposing the reflected light on the underside of the chin, the small upturn of the lips, the perfection of the white powered wig and gossamer finery.

It seems to be a portrait of a regal bastard for sure, but as I moved even closer… no. What looked like conceit and arrogance from further back, up close looked more like devilish mocking of the self-importance so often conveyed in portraits of this kind. The upturned mouth is much more playful, the arching eyebrow much more questioning, “Don’t you get the joke?” it seems to ask. Parts of the picture are at odds with one another: the perfect wig, the stunning clothes and a five o’clock shadow? The eyes are almost twinkling, as if you expect the right one to wink at you at any moment, and when I realized this was a self-portrait of the artist I could see it not only a sarcastic statement about those who posed for him, but a self-effacing declaration of his own pompousness.

As I moved very close to the canvas I was astounded to see that it wasn’t a canvas at all, but an amazing application of pastels on paper, done with a technical skill I have never seen before. As much as I love the glowing effervescence of Degas’ dancers and the flowing motion of the Toulouse-Lautrec “Rider on a White Horse,” this pastel captured my heart. What technique; the flush of the skin is a series of light red strokes, the beard shadow a series of blue ones, as bright as the tunic the artist wears. The wig is a network of bright, thin white single-hair lines applied over a base of mottled whites, grays, browns and blues. The striking bright blue backlight slashes on the tunic are in stark contrast to the glorious soft blending of blues that make up the majority of the velvety cloth. This is just magnificent work, Self-Portrait, 1764 by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour.