Jean-Baptiste Degaffet

To date, the miniaturist Albrespit¹ is known solely for this one (signed) work. He painted the portrait of a young man dressed for hunting, wearing a golden brown waistcoat with a high collar, and with a gun on his back. His curly hair peeps out from under a green hunting cap and merges imperceptibly with his slightly rough, bushy whiskers. In combination with the two rings in his right ear, this all suggests that the sitter sympathises with the ideas of the French Revolution. Visible identifying characteristics of the revolutionary Jacobins (the sans-culottes), including not only earrings but also a white scarf tied high around the neck, became a fashion among the progressive bourgeoisie.
While the clothes are rendered here rather broadly, Albrespit modelled the young man’s face very delicately, with bluish shading around the eyes and mouth. He achieved great differentiation in the contours of the nose, the lines of the eyes, and the dimple on the chin. The face appears both lively and delicate.
An inscription on the reverse identifies the sitter as Jean-Baptiste Degaffet. This may have been a justice of the peace by the same name, who is known to have been in office in the Canton des Prez of the Département de la Haute-Marne in the north east of France in the year 1800.² The juges de paix were not legal professionals but were respected members of society. They were introduced in France in 1790 to settle minor legal disputes.
J. S. O.