Group Portrait

The son of a provincial painter on glass, Jean Revel became the student of Charles Le Brun, the director of the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and all of Louis XIV's art projects. As an artist, Revel divided his time between Paris, where he became a member of the Academy, and Dijon where he received important commissions. His talents as both a portraitist and a history painter are demonstrated in this animated family portrait. The contemporary group is presented in a columned arcade as if in a scene from mythology, with the ladies dressed in what was then considered classical costume, and children cast as the conventional winged infants known as putti.