Florent de La Mare-Richart

In the same collection since the 1980s.

A pupil of Laurent de La Hyre, Florent de La Mare-Richart was admitted as a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture as a portrait painter in 1677 and exhibited at the Salon until 1704. :

In the present composition, a servant clothed in magnificently coloured feathers presents an arrow to a child sitting comfortably among plump cushions. Also crowned with feathers, the child is drawing back his bow while a brightly coloured parrot at his feet tries to undo his shoelaces. The scene takes place against the background of an exotic landscape overlooked by a palm tree. The interpretation of these elements seems to suggest that the scene is an allegory of the Americas.

Mare-Richart was known for his talents as a portrait painter, and this could also be a commissioned portrait, following the model – fashionable at the time – of the painting Duchesse de Valentinois, now in the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (inv. MV 6088), in which she appears with her servant.

Finally, it is worth noting the chantourné form of the composition, which suggests that the painting could have been a model for a decorative scheme.