Portrait of a gentleman

by Nicole Findlay

With a fort burning in the horizon behind him, Henri de Lorraine, Harcourt gazes out at us with a mixture of righteousness, self-assurance and defiance.

Aside from the cherub locks and decorative attire, the picture might describe images of modern war mongers. The engraving, created three centuries ago, underscores the importance placed on propaganda for securing one’s reputation in society.

The print is one of a collection on exhibit at CUAG curated by Catherine Copp, an MA student in art history. Status and Public Image: The Male Portrait in 18th-Century France, traces the evolution of that era’s depictions of noblemen from aggrandizing stances, to less ostentatious displays more aligned with commoners as the country seethed toward revolution.

“My exhibition focuses on men, because I was interested in how the construction of masculinity seemed to change during the century, and in how that change was reflected in men’s appearance and the artist’s mode of representation,” said Copp.

Selected for CUAG’s 2007-08 Research Assistantship position, Copp chose the works from an extensive collection donated to the gallery by W. McAllister Johnson, an historian of French 18th-century art.

“I selected the prints based on a combination of factors, including technical excellence, strong visual presence, historically interesting sitters and artists, and how they represented the changing social values.”

During the 1700′s, famed portraits were copied as engravings and widely collected among France’s social elite. The emphasis on visual art in conveying social prominence among the French aristocracy was just one of the insights Copp gained during her year-long tenure at the gallery.

“Before I began this research assistantship, I knew only the general social, political and artistic trends of the period and the works of the most famous painters and sculptors,” she said, adding that she could not have learned as much from a lecture course. “I had to take significant responsibility for the accuracy and correct understanding of the show’s content, find information on lesser known artists in the medium of print, and come to terms with the relationships between the period’s painters, engravers and patrons.”

Status and Public Image: The Male Portrait in 18th-Century France is on display at CUAG until August 24.