Portrait Of A Young Lady, Signed Henri Millot, Paris, Early 18th Century

Portrait of a young lady
By Henri Millot (Paris, active between 1699 and 1756)
Signed "peint par h. millot" and dated 1706 on the entablature

Oil on canvas: h. 81 cm, l. 64 cm
A Louis XIV period giltwood and finely carved frame.
Framed dimensions: h. 99 cm, l. 83 cm



The portrait we're offering is signed and dated by Henri Millot, French painter, one of the most brilliant students of Nicolas de Largillière.
This portrait will be published in the catalogue raisonné dedicated to Nicolas de Largillierre, in the section "Students of the Master", currently being prepared by Mr. Dominique Brême, director of the Musée de Sceaux and specialist in Nicolas de Largillierre.


According to an old handwritten label stuck on the frame, the Lady identified as Nicole de Noël, wife of René François Franjou, banker in Paris.
The young woman is portrayed at half-waist, her body slightly turned three-quarters. Looking straight at the viewer, her face is illuminated by her large brown eyes with a benevolent expression.
Accentuated by a tight framing, the presence of our model gains in intensity.
The hairstyle, arranged in a high bun à la Fontanges, ends with long locks falling over the shoulder and the nape of the neck, while at the front two curls frame the forehead.
The young woman is wearing a white satin dress embroidered with gold thread and laced at the front over a blouse whose fine white lace is visible at the sleeves and throat. She wears a loose blue velvet coat lined with rich brocade in shades of gold and silver. Her left arm, bent at the elbow, is placed on the stone entablature, her hand open and her index finger pointing downwards. This refined gesture breaks the static nature of the portrait by generating an illusion of movement.
To the right of the young woman hangs a crimson velvet curtain, one panel of which is folded under her arm. Thus propelled into the foreground, this piece of fabric, animated by angular folds, contrasts with the blue of the coat by its dark red color.
Working velvet in the manner of his master Nicolas de Largillierre, Henri Millot strives to make us feel the softness of the fabric through illuminated white crests and the uneven surface worked in nuances to better interpret the appearance of the fibers that change color depending on the lighting. The almost electric light of this theatrical staging is softened by the autumnal colors of the landscape in the background. This warm palette of ochres and browns contrasts with the blues of the sky and the coat.

Henri Millot (Paris, active between 1699 and 1756)
Henri Millot is a French painter born in Paris and died in Paris in 1756. He worked mainly in Paris and in close collaboration with Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746), he was his student before 1699, by joining the workshop in the 1690s, he adopted the full range of effects and techniques of his master. He was a close friend of Marie-Claire Hermant, Largillière's first cousin, and was a witness at her marriage to Georges Roettiers on 18 May 1711. Henri Millot worked independently in Paris until around 1715, when he arrived in Strasbourg. He then worked at the Duchy of Deux Ponts, from 1721 to 1724, and for other German princely courts. In 1730 he was in Strasbourg, but returned permanently to Paris at the end of his life, where he exhibited two portraits at the Académie de Saint Luc in 1756.