Antoine BENOIST (Joigny 1632-Paris 1717) - Lot 108

Antoine BENOIST (Joigny 1632-Paris 1717) Portrait of Léon Potier, Duc de Gesvres Oak panel, oval 24 x 18.5 cm Inscriptions at the bottom indicating the identity of the model Label on reverse Antoine Benoist, famous during his lifetime, fell into oblivion before emerging from anonymity thanks to the acquisition by the Musée de Versailles, in 1856, of the wax bust of Louis XIV. The king's valet and personal painter, he was admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1681, appointed king's painter and sole sculptor in colored wax, and made a chevalier de Saint-Michel. He owes his renown to his mastery of direct casting on live models, a safe process that enables facial features to be rendered with extreme fidelity. The heads and busts, then colored, topped with wigs, fitted with enamel eyes and dressed by the models themselves, made up a particularly realistic ensemble. His after-death inventory lists over ninety wax effigies - only the bust of Louis XIV survives today. These figures of members of the court circle, exhibited on rue des Saints-Pères, earned him the nickname "Benoît du Cercle". He also produced numerous medallions for the king, and obtained permission to exhibit his wax figures throughout the kingdom.