By Sarah Hall, executive director, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts

School of Mathieu Le Nain (French, (1607-1677)
Portrait of Henri Coiffier de Ruze, Marquis de Cinq Mars. Oil on canvas. C. 1640
76.5″H x 42″
Gift of Chester D. Tripp, AO671,53.00

At the museum, this gentleman typically looks down on us from his perch, high above a doorway in our Schrieber Gallery. Admittedly, it’s not the best circumstance for admiring the pain

ting. Looking at it on our computer screens at least brings the details closer to us.

Here we can see the intricate embroidery and lace ruffles on his pants, and the very posh-looking red lining of his boots. 

We can tell that his spurs are gold, and admire the beautiful workmanship of his armor. (See closer detail below).

Everything about his costuming is sumptuous, and his posture is self-possessed to the point of arrogance. He stands with his elbow out (look at those gorgeous slashed sleeves!) in a posture associated with male portraiture, particularly of the 17th century.

Some of you might have had the pleasure of attending a talk at the museum a couple years back, with Dr. Joaneath Spicer from the Walters Art Museum—in which she showed us many examples of this type of pose in portraiture. Spicer has published considerable research on gesture and pose in portraiture, and she has dubbed this pose “The Renaissance elbow,” although ours is Baroque.) That elbow says a lot—it conveys confidence and defines personal space. It signals importance, and, by this point allies our subject with every other entitled aristocrat painted in this way. It conveys an entire history of nobility. 

It’s an aristocratic portrait that revels in luxury and layering detail upon detail upon detail. If something can be embellished, it is—bows! Ruffles! Slashed sleeves, gloves, scabbard. Take a look at the other materials conveyed here—I’ve mentioned gold, lace, and intricate embroidery—but we also have leather, velvet, and silk. The fabrics are likely Italian, since Italy dominated luxury textile production until well into the 17^th century. However, during the reign of Louis XIV (just after this portrait was painted) the French textile industry grew, and many luxury fabrics were produced in Tours for the French court.

So, who is this? We might make some preliminary guesses—he’s young; he’s a showoff. This portrait is telling us, “I can fight. I can ride. I can look down my nose at you.” The luxury and the scale (the painting is life size) tell us that the sitter was wealthy and important. In the tradition of court portraiture, it clearly conveys his power and his privilege.

Visit your email next week to learn more about the life of this young man, the world in which he lived, the artist who painted him, and how he ended up in Hagerstown. (Of course, you can google him, but that would spoil the fun.)

School of Mathieu Le Nain