Jean Jacques Thérésa de Lusse

The Poet Jean Francois Guichard

The sitter does not belong to the best-known French poets of the 18th century. However, Jean Francois Guichard (Chartrette 1731-1811 Chartrette) wrote some plays, fables, verses and epigrams which were popular at his time. He is seated at a table on which we see paper, pens, an inkpot and books - the utensils and distinguishing signs of an "homme des lettres". The artist, dressed in rather informal clothing and with his left arm propped on the table, appears in a nonchalant posture. He wears a morning coat with a broad lapel and collar, a yellow waistcoat and a white shirt. Moreover, he wears a loosely wrapped scarf around his neck. Behind Guichard there is a vase on a pedestal, bearing the inscription "Piron" - the name of the famous playwright Alexis Piron (1689-1773), whose student Guichard pretended to be. The energetic gesture of the left hand and the vivid facial expression imply the poet being painted while speaking. Until the 19th century, poetry and rhetoric were still closely connected. The free, broad and slightly nervous brush stroke emphasizes the poet's vivid expression.