Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley
Artist	Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson
Year	1797
Type	Oil on canvas, portrait painting
Dimensions	159 cm× 113 cm(63 in× 44 in)
Location	Palace of Versailles, Versailles

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley is a 1797 portrait painting by the French artist Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. It depicts Jean-Baptiste Belley, a former slave from Saint-Domingue who was elected to serve in the National Convention following the French Revolution. ^{[1] [2]} He stands beside a bust of the French abolitionist Guillaume Thomas François Raynal. ^[3] The composition resembles the artist's later Portrait of Chateaubriand . ^[4]

It was exhibited at the Salon of 1798 at the Louvre in Paris. ^[5] On display in Toulon for several decades, it was acquired for the Louvre in 1828 for 3,000 Francs when it was believed to be a portrait of Toussaint Louverture. Today it is in the collection of the Palace of Versailles. ^{[6] [7]}

References

1. Grigsby p.8-9
2. Palmer p.131
3. Rosenblum & Janson p.61
4. Palmer p.131
5. Grigsby p.57
6. Palace of Versailles
7. https://pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/joconde/000PE008287 Palace of Versailles

Bibliography

• Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-revolutionary France. Yale University Press, 2002.
• Palmer, Allison Lee. Historical Dictionary of Romantic Art and Architecture. Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
• Rosenblum, Robert & Janson, Horst Woldemar. 19th-Century Art. Prentice Hall, 2005.