Scuola francese (XVIII), Firmato A.D. - Ritratto di Notaio con Penna e Registro (1797)

Portrait of a Notary with Pen and Registry – France, 1797 – Oil on canvas – Contemporary gilded frame restored

Author: French School, 18th century
Subject: Notary
Dating: 1797
Era: Late 18th century
Technique: Oil on canvas
Overall dimensions: 45 × 39 cm, including frame 5 cm
Frame: Gilded, contemporary to the painting, restored

Refined and expressive oil on canvas depicting a provincial notable or notary in the act of drafting a document or master registry with a goose-quill. Historical Context and Iconography:
The work is precisely set in 1797, during the Directory period in France (1795–1799). The painting’s iconography faithfully reflects the bourgeois fashion and cultural milieu of the Incroyable era: the subject wears a characteristic high, wide-brimmed top hat, a voluminous white linen tie tied high at the collar, and a finely decorated waistcoat. The active pose with the goose-quill and the open book clearly identifies the figure as a man of law, notary or civil administrator of the French Republic.
Signature and Dating:
At the bottom left the work bears the dating 1797 and the initials of the artist A.D., referable to a provincial portraitist or to a French neoclassical school painter of the late 18th century.
Frame and Condition:
The painting is adorned with a splendid gilded leaf contemporaneous frame, richly carved with floral motifs and topped by a scenographic radiance. The canvas shows a documented conservational restoration carried out in 1987 (with a back reinforcement patch). The craquelure is authentic, homogeneous, and testifies to the painting’s originality and patina.

The work is ready to hang and suitable for private collections of antique art or prestigious interiors.

Provenance: from a private collection, purchased in France in the 1980s

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