18th-century French school.

18th-century French school. Portrait of the Count of Blou de Chadenac. Oil on canvas. 92.5 x 73 cm. Relined and restored. Provenance: Formerly in the collection of the Château de Thueyts (Ardèche), then the Château du Gué-Péan (Loir-et-Cher), as part of a group of family portraits originally displayed set into the wood paneling of a parlor. An old postcard shows the painting in situ in the billiard room of the Château du Gué-Péan. Jean-Antoine, Count of Blou de Chadénac (1737–1793), son of Charles François de Blou and Henriette de La Baulme de Beaulieu. In 1768, he married Françoise Bourlon de Lixière, with whom he had children. Knight of Saint-Louis, major general in 1793, killed at the Siege of Mainz. The de BLOU family originated in Ardèche, where its documented lineage dates back to the 14th century and split into two main branches: that of the lords of Laval and that of the lords of Préssis. The family occupied the Château de Thueyts from the 15th century until the end of the 19th century.