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Portrait of Jerzy Flemming

Antoine Pesne

Basic information

ID: Ж-847
Author: Antoine Pesne
Name: Portrait of Jerzy Flemming
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions: 71 x 59 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery
Exposition: Potocki Palace

Information about author

Author: Antoine Pesne
Artist's lifetime: 1683–1757
Biography: Antoine Pesne (1683–1757) was a court painter of the Prussian king (from 1711) and director of the Berlin Academy of Arts (from 1722). The artist was born in Paris. He studied under his father, Jean, and his great-uncle Charles de La Fosse – a court painter to Louis XIV and director of the Royal Academy. Pesne received a scholarship from the Academy, which allowed him to study in Venice, Naples, and Rome. King Frederick I of Prussia offered the young artist to serve as a court painter in Berlin. Pesne also retained his position at the court under Frederick William I. In 1746, the artist received real estate from King Frederick I in Berlin, where he resided for the rest of his life. Antoine Pesne was one of the most prominent representatives of Frederician Rococo. He gained recognition for royal family portraits of Frederick I and Frederick William I.

Object description

Count Jerzy Detloff Flemming (1699–1771) was a general of artillery and a Great Treasurer of Lithuania and the Pomeranian Voivodeship. He was the son of Count Felix Friedrich von Flemming (1661–1739), a Prussian Privy Councillor. The Count's family were well-known magnates with a long tradition of military service. Flemming was married to Princess Konstancja Czartoryska, the daughter of Prince Michal Fryderyk Czartoryski and Eleonora Monika Waldstein. After the death of his first wife, the Count married her sister, Princess Antonina Czartoryska. The waist-length image of a man turned in three quarters, looking at the viewer, is a prominent example of Antoine Pesne's portrait painting. The Count is wearing armour with a blue order ribbon. The man's face and gleaming armour surface are rendered realistically, in detail, emphasising his status and rank.

Portrayed person