Jean-Baptiste Isabey

Gentleman in Dark Blue Coat in front of Cloudy Sky

Courage, strength and thirst for adventure are suggested by the extensive cloudy sky and the gentleman's look which is directed into the distance. Therefore Isabey painted Napoleon in a similar posture. His portrait of a gentleman belongs to a series painted in English manner in the first decade of the 19th century showing the sitters in front of a cloudy sky. ¹ The pictures belonging to this series form a transition between Isabey's portraits with brown-black background painted in the 1790's ² and the large-format works on paper which he created after 1811. At the time he painted this miniature Isabey belonged to the intimate circle of empress Joséphine in Malmaison and was involved in several artistic tasks. ³ Therefore he did not spend much time painting miniatures, which leads to the conclusion that the sitter must be either a friend of Isabey or of Napoleon.

¹ Another miniature presenting a gentleman before a cloudy sky (in an almost identical case) was sold at Sotheby's, Geneva, in May 1981.

² Isabey painted his first watercolour portraits before a cloudy sky circa 1795.

³ For example in connection with the festivities on the occasion of Napoleon's coronation in 1804.