17th/18th Century Portrait Attributed to Jean Baptiste Santerre (1651-1717) French, Oil on Canvas. Titled on a label on the reverse: "Portrait of Madam Santerre." 

Condition: Small paint loss near chin on left. 

Overall: 21 X 19 in. 

Sight: 15 X 12 1/2 in. 

Depth: 2 1/2 in. 

#3765 . 

Jean Baptiste Santerre was born on March 23rd, 1651 in Magny-en-Vexin near Pontoise, a commune in north France. Santerre first apprenticed to the portrait painter François Lemaire (1620-1688), before studying under the history painter Bon Boullogne, and trained by copying works by Old Masters. He was one of the first painters in France to incorporate Dutch and Flemish influences, notably from Rembrandt and Anthony van Dyck. Santerre is perhaps best remembered for combining the fantasy portrait of Northern tradition with the allegorical portrait, then fashionable in French painting. After getting into the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1698, Santerre was accepted as full member (reçu) in 1704, the same year he exhibited for the first time at Paris Salon.  After achieving initial success as a portrait painter in the late 1690s Santerre began to branch out into the fields of genre painting. At the same time he also painted history paintings and altarpieces of biblical and religious subjects, suffused with a strong erotic character. The nude portrait Susanna at the Bath, first shown in 1704 and considered extremely racy at the time, is regarded as one of Santerre’s best works, now prominently displayed in the Louvre. His successes gained him attention from French royalty, including King Louis XIV and Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and from 1715 until his death Santerre served as court painter for the Duke of Orleans. Santerre’s religious paintings caused a scandal in ecclesiastical circles with their erotic characteristics. He was less successful in his lifetime due to his association with the French Regency era, but found new appreciation in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Santerre is regarded as a precursor of the Rococo era painting, as well as of both Neoclassical and Romantic painting, and was said to be a significant influence on subsequent generations of artists during those eras. Shortly before his death on November 21st, 1717, he was reputed to have destroyed a notebook of his nude studies, which he considered to be indecent.

Small paint loss near chin on left.