Joseph Siffrein Duplessis

Joseph-Siffred Duplessis painted clear, direct portraits of kings, scientists, artists and musicians of late eighteenth century France. His faces are frank and alive, painted with sharp modelling and a sober colour scheme.

He was born in Carpentras in 1725 and studied in Rome under Pierre Subleyras. He arrived in Paris around 1752 and became famous after the Salon of 1769. He painted Louis XVI in his coronation robes, the composer Gluck at the keyboard, and Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait by him is used on the American hundred dollar bill. In 1796 he became curator of the museum at Versailles, and he died there in 1802.

Our pictures include Louis XVI and the sculptor Christophe Gabriel Allegrain. Look at the lively gaze and the subtle rendering of flesh.