Portrait of Joseph Thoulier d'Olivet. Gabriel Revel (1643 -1712)

Gabriel Revel (1643; 1712). Portrait of the Academician and Abbé Thoulier d'Olivet circa 1700, 1710

91 cm by 75 cm re-lined canvas.
Sumptuous period frame of 114 cm by 97 cm.

I would like to thank Mr. Dominique Brême for his confirmation regarding the attribution to Gabriel Revel. Mr. Brême, Director of the Domaine museum departmental of Sceaux, has been preparing the artist's catalog raisonné for many years and has thus brought together more than a hundred paintings by the painter.

Pierre Joseph Thoulier d'Olivet (1682; 1762)

Born in Salins (Franche-Comté), April 1, 1682. Grammarian, translator and editor of Cicero, he edited the works of a number of French authors. He knew Boileau who honored him with his friendship; he was on the party of the ancients; he had been a Jesuit and a teacher, he counted Voltaire among his pupils. His friends at the Academy having assured "that he would be deeply touched by this favor", he was elected on August 5, 1723 by 19 votes out of 22 voters to replace La Chapelle, without having made any visit, and received by the Abbé de Choisy on the following November 25. He was one of the leaders of the religious party which was even called the d'Olivets, against the philosophical party; he was the adversary of Montesquieu, of Marivaux and the friend of Bouhier and the lawyer Mathieu-Marais; he received his former pupil Voltaire and de Châteaubrun; a maneuver directed by him against the philosophers, during the Radonvilliers election, turned to his confusion. He collaborated with the Dictionary, and published in 1730, a History of the Academy following that of Pellisson; he left an interesting correspondence to consult for the literary history of his time. Died October 8, 1768. https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/pierre-joseph-thoulier-dolivet

Gabriel Revel (1643; 1712)

It was within a family of glass painters that Gabriel Revel received his first artistic rudiments before moving to Paris. Probably on the recommendation of Jean de La Fontaine, also from Château Thierry, he seized the chance to train in Paris with Charles Le Brun, of whom he became one of the devoted collaborators on the royal construction sites of the 1670s and 1680s. We quickly find him with François Verdier and Claude Audran II with whom he participates in the decorations of Louis XIV's ship, the Soleil Royal. After a trip to Dijon in 1676, he returned to Paris where he baptized, in 1677, a little girl he had with Jeanne Boudon, his wife. She will also give him two sons. Soon to be a specialist in portraits, he was received as such at the Royal Academy on February 27, 1683 for his two reception pieces: the portraits of the sculptor Girardon and of Michel Anguier. Although receiving his first commissions in the capital, the artist maintained deep relations with the city of Dijon, since in 1688 he painted the ceiling of the Chamber of Requests of the Parliament of Burgundy with an Allegory of Justice. He settled permanently in 1692, after the death of Le Brun. It imports a classicizing academic style already somewhat outdated in Paris and Versailles, but much appreciated by the local elites, who wish to be receptive to the “Great Taste” developed under the Great King. He produced many works there, both historical and portraits.