Jacques-André Portail (Brest 1694-1759 Versailles)

Before being accepted at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1746 as a flower painter, Portail occupied the post of draftsman to the King at Versailles. Today he is remembered not only for his still-lives with flowers and his landscapes, but equally for his highly finished portraits in black and red chalk, such as one at the Albertina, Vienna (inv. 12099; see Salmon, op. cit., no 21, ill.).