Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit

René-Michel Slodtz, the most famous member of a dynasty of Franco-Flemish sculptors, is best remembered today as an influential professor whose students included Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Jean-Antoine Houdon. Slodtz spent almost a dozen years studying and working in Italy. The cascading curls and the animated drapery of this bust reveal his technical mastery and his admiration for the works of Italian predecessors such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The identity of the man who sat for this impressive portrait remains elusive, but his appearance and costume provide some clues. Perhaps the most significant is the medal of the Order of the Holy Spirit, which appears on his cape. Entry into this chivalric order at an early age was limited to French royal princes, their extended male family members, and foreign aristocrats — a category that included current or deposed princes at the French court (many from domains that had become a part of France). Together, the sitter’s youth and his medal suggest that he is of the highest rank.