Who painted Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife?

Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife was painted by Jens Juel in 1791.

Where can I see Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife?

Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife is held by Statens Museum for Kunst.

What movement is Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife?

Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife is associated with Rococo painting.

Artwork

Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife

Jens Juel , 1791

Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Jens Juel. It dates from 1791 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.

About this work

Technique & Style

The composition’s balance and the careful depiction of textures reflect Juel’s academic training and the conventions of portraiture among Copenhagen’s elite.

The double portrait is executed in oil on canvas, a medium typical of Jens Juel’s late eighteenth-century practice.

Handling is restrained yet precise, with smooth transitions in the modeling of faces and crisp detailing in the lace and uniform braid. The sitters’ features are rendered with subtle chiaroscuro, emphasizing the colonel’s calm authority and his wife’s poised reserve.

Stylistically, the work aligns with Danish late neoclassicism: clear contours, subdued palette, and a reserved, almost ceremonial mood. The composition’s balance and the careful depiction of textures reflect Juel’s academic training and the conventions of portraiture among Copenhagen’s elite.

History & Provenance

The double portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and his wife was created by the Danish artist Jens Juel in 1781. Executed in oil on canvas, the work depicts the couple as a group portrait. The painting is currently held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.

Overview

Jens Juel, a prominent Danish portraitist of the late 1700s, painted the double portrait of Colonel Jean‑Jacques Gautier and his wife in 1791. Executed in oil on canvas, the work is part of the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst and exemplifies the Rococo style that Juel frequently employed in his court commissions.

Subject & Meaning

The composition presents the colonel and his spouse within an interior space. The woman is seated, holding a small dog, while the colonel stands beside her, leaning on the back of a chair. Their attire, her light dress and elaborate feather‑and‑flower hat, his dark, buttoned jacket, signals their social rank and the conventions of genteel portraiture.

Context

Created near the end of Juel’s career, the painting reflects the late Rococo taste still prevalent among the Danish aristocracy, even as neoclassical trends were emerging elsewhere in Europe. The inclusion of a pet and the informal pose suggest a move toward more intimate, personal representation within formal portraiture.

Portrait of Colonel Jean-Jacques Gautier and His Wife, Unknown

Artist & collection

Artist

Jens Juel

Jens Juel (12 May 1745 – 27 December 1802) was a Danish painter, primarily known for his many portraits, of which the largest collection is on display at Frederiksborg Castle.