Portrait of the Countess of Vergennes in Turkish Attire
Antoine de Favray [1]Second half of the 18th Century
After being appointed to various posts in Portugal and Spain, the French diplomat Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes (1719-1787) came to Istanbul in 1755 as Minister Plenipotentiary and was soon appointed full Ambassador, a post he held until his recalled to France in 1768. During his mission, France's role in the Ottoman state's trade with the West increased; Just as France intended, the Ottomans re-entered the war with the increasingly strong Imperial Russia in the same year that Gravier left İstanbul. Baron de Tott, a French military officer of Hungarian origin in Vergennes' entourage, helped rejuvenate the Ottoman army. Partly due to his diplomatic successes in Sweden, after leaving İstanbul, Comte de Vergennes was promoted to power during the reign of King Louis XVI. appointed foreign minister. With his policies in favor of the liberation process, he played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War. Without the king's consent, Gravier had married Anette de Viviers (1730-1798), the widow of a merchant from Pera, after living with her for a few years and fathering two illegitimate children. This marriage is cited as one of the reasons that prompted Gravier's recall to France. Comte de Vergennes had included the French artist Antoine de Favray in his entourage upon his arrival in Istanbul in 1862; Leaving İstanbul, he entrusted de Favray to the new French ambassador, Saint Priest. Before arriving in İstanbul, de Favray, himself a knight, was recognized for his portraits of the Grand Master and Knights of the Order of Malta, as well as his depictions of Maltese women. Kidnapped to Malta by mutinous Christian slaves, the galley Kaptan Paşa was bought by France on the advice of Vergennes, who was keeping an eye on his country's relations with the Ottoman Empire, and returned to the Ottomans. De Favray arrived in Istanbul aboard this ship, painted an Istanbul panorama to commemorate this event as well as the ambassador's audience with Sultan Osman III, and made portraits of the Comte and Comtesse de Vergennes in Turkish dress, which the ambassador was about to present after his departure married Istanbul. The paintings are characterized by the meticulous attention to detail in clothing and accessories. During the nine years he spent in İstanbul, de Favray lived first in the French Palace and later in the Russian Palace, made portraits of people in the embassy circles and painted genre scenes of Levantine women and İstanbul panoramas from the hills of Istanbul Pera. The Countess was depicted in a pose similar to that of her husband, Ambassador Charles Gravier, while seated on a divan. The difference is that the Countess of Vergennes is looking directly at the viewer. In both paintings, the clothing and jewelry were rendered in exquisite detail, the drawing was rendered with great care, and the artist was very successful in mirroring the texture of materials such as fur, cloth, pearls, and gold.
[1]
Antoine de Favray (b.08.09.1706 - d.09.02.1798)
Chevalier Antoine de Favray was a French painter known for his portraits of figures from the Ottoman Empire as well as paintings of Grand Masters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
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