Presumed portrait of Madame de Montespan - Gabriel REVEL (1643-1712)

Gabriel REVEL (Château-Thierry 1643 - 1712 Dijon)
Portrait as Judith, presumed to be of the Marquise de Montespan, née Françoise de
Rochechouart de Mortemart (1640-1707)

Oil on canvas
98.5 x 75 cm.

Signed and dated, on the entablature: Revel pinxit 1688 Presented in a fine gilded and carved wood frame, Regency period

Provenance:
Possibly the “Judith and Holofernes” cited at the Château de Petit-Bourg, home of the Duc d'Antin, in 1736: “un dessus de trumeau de 3'[pieds]6”[pouces]: “Judith et Holopherne” (presumably for the bedroom in the Pavillon Nord).
Private collection, Paris

This unpublished portrait by Gabriel Revel, painted in 1688, features a woman portraying the biblical heroine Judith. Leaning on the severed head of General Holofernes, she holds a sword at rest in her right hand. Judith is a determined Jewish widow who saves her people from the Assyrian oppression led by the general. To do so, she goes into the enemy camp, seduces Holofernes with her beauty and wins his trust. One night, while he is drunk and asleep, she beheads him with her own sword. Her act of bravery spurs the Jews to counter-attack and defeat the Assyrians, freeing the city of Bethulia from siege.

It is highly probable that Madame de Montespan lent her features to Judith. Indeed, in 1688, she was experiencing difficult times at Court. Her position as the king's favorite was being challenged by the woman who had raised her children, Madame de Maintenon. The poisons affair had tarnished her reputation since 1685, and she felt increasingly scorned by the man she loved, eventually entering a convent in 1691. The treatment of a portrait of Madame de Montespan as Judith, imbued with dignity and calm, is probably no coincidence, as is the choice of artist Gabriel Revel for this painting.

The artist, a former pupil of Charles Le Brun and the latter's collaborator on royal projects from 1670 to 1680, mastered the use of color and texture. A vermilion-red drape, evoking a flow of blood, divides the composition between Judith's body and the decapitated head. Her crystalline blue dress, obtained with lapis lazuli powder, adds an ethereal elegance to the scene.

Gabriel Revel's psychological portrait of Judith is remarkable for its time, depicting a heroine full of courage and determination. This painting is a testament to his artistic prowess, capturing human emotion and historical resonance in a single frame. This work is undoubtedly the artist's masterpiece.

We thank Mr. Dominique Brême, author on Revel's career, for confirming the attribution of this portrait in March 2024, although he expresses reservations about the identification of the sitter.