Page 31 - Revolution Republique Empire Restauration

JEAN-FRANCOIS SABLET
Morges 1745 – 1819 Nantes

Portrait of a Revolutionary

Signed, dated and inscribed: F.Sablet/ Paris 1794
Oil on panel; 64.5 x 54.9 cm (25 1/3 x 21 1/2 in)

Born in Morges, in Switzerland, the son of image of a venerable revolutionary is from François’
a painter and picture dealer, Jacob Sablet hand and this attribution has been confirmed by
(1720–1798), Jean-François Sablet first Anne Van de Sandt.
trained with his father. In 1767, he entered
the Paris Académie as a student of Joseph-Marie The as yet unidentified sitter for this portrait is
Vien, under whom his brother Jacques later studied depicted bust length, seated at a table draped in red
as well. The brothers made their reputations in dif- upon which can be seen a wadded tricolore and a
ferent genres: Jean-François (more commonly round box, possibly a compass. He wears a black
know as François) as a portraitist and Jacques as a overcoat of rough wool over a grey coat with large
history and genre painter. In his early career figured buttons, a red waistcoat and white shirt tied
Francois excelled at landscape and occasionally with a cravat striped in white and navy blue. If the
painted genre scenes and even the odd mythological object on the table is in fact a compass and the but-
subjects. Jacques made a particular success of group tons carry insignia, these might possibly identify the
portraiture and conversation pieces. This occasional sitter as a figure in the French navy, an institution
cross-over between genres and the fact that Jacques which by 1974 had undergone devastating changes.1
was the more prolific and better known artist In any case, the tricolore on the table at least identi-
means that François’s work is often mis-attributed fies the subject as one sympathetic to the Revolution
to his brother. However, the signature and approach and its ideals. He is a man of evident age and gravi-
to portraiture leaves no doubt that this forthright tas and the former faith and determination, as well

1.The Revolution had forced upon the French navy a series of disbandments and reorganizations by which all tradition and discipline were destroyed.The
long accumulated animosity those ‘before the mast’ and below decks had nurtured for the for the most part, noble officer class was fully unleashed and,
after the execution of the Louis XVI the best officers emigrated in droves.The majority of officers who remained were either slaughtered by the Jacobins
or exiled. The French navy now having being stripped of all its able commanders, the government attempted to replace them with inferior, or, at least,
inexperienced men. Ultimately, neither the Republic nor the Empire was able to create a fully effective navy largely because they could not forge a new
officer class from the inadequately trained and educated men that remained after 1794.

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