The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens has announced the acquisition of a full-length portrait by French portraitist Antoine-Francois Callet, famed for his role as the official painter of Louis XVI. Portrait of the Comte de Cromot, Superintendent of the Comte de Provence, at an easel, accompanied by his two daughters-in-law will make its debut this fall in The Huntington’s European Art Gallery. The Huntington, a renowned research and cultural institution, houses not only extensive botanical gardens, but a vast collection of rare manuscripts and American and European art. This new acquisition will join works like Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy in The Huntington’s extensive collection of 18th-century European portraits. 

Callet’s portrait captures the Comte de Cromot: Jules David Cromot du Bourg. He was a high-ranking finance superintendent for the Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII) and an amateur artist, expressed in his depiction seated at an easel. The unique quality of the work is highlighted in the separate landscape canvas that Cromot is depicted working on. Painted and signed by Cromot himself, this creates a posthumous collaboration between Cromot, who died in 1786, and Francois Callet, who finished and debuted the portrait the following year, making the painting the last representation of the Comte de Cromot. The portrait also includes Cromot’s two daughters-in-law, Marie Sophie Guillauden du Plessis and Sophie de Barral. Guillauden, identified by her red ribbon, holds a rolled red-chalk drawing of a landscape, believed to be the model for the landscape Cromot is shown painting. 

Behind the primary sitters is a portrait of the Comte de Provence, brother of Louis XVI and the future King Louis XVIII. The frame’s inscription reads, “Donné par Mr. Frère du Roi au Grand Surintendant de ses finances,” (Given by the brother of the King to the Grand Superintendent of his finances) which recognizes the portrait as a commission by the future king.  

Originally part of the collection of J.E. Safra, the portrait was auctioned by Christie’s in January 2023 for $201,600. The acquisition is part of an ongoing partnership with The Ahmanson Foundation, which has facilitated a series of prestigious additions to The Huntington’s European art collection. This includes recent acquisitions such as Goya’s Portrait of José Antonio Caballero, Second Marqués de Caballero, Secretary of Grace and Justice and Vigée Le Brun’s Portrait of Joseph Hyacinthe François-de-Paule de Rigaud, Comte de Vaudreuil. Callet’s portrait continues The Huntington’s mission to expand its collection of European art, enriching its holdings of 18th-century portraits.