Jean-Antoine de Mesmes (1598-1673), President at the Parlement of Paris

In 1860 this portrait was shown in Paris, at an exhibition of old pictures on the boulevard des Italiens, and the critic Théophile Thoré was struck by the face. He called it the physiognomy of a badger, and joked that Tallemant des Réaux, the 17th-century author of gossiping character sketches, would have written a fine portrait of this president of the weasels. The sitter came from one of the great families of French judges. Jean-Antoine de Mesmes was one of the presidents of the Parlement of Paris, the kingdom's highest court, and in 1653 Champaigne painted him with every sign of the rank. He sits in state in an armchair, in the red robe with a striped band of ermine at the shoulder, a note in his right hand, his left resting on his president's cap. A column rises behind him, a familiar sign of strength. The name causes some confusion. His grandson, also called Jean-Antoine de Mesmes and also a president of the Parlement, was elected to the Académie française in 1710. The picture came to the Louvre with the bequest of the doctor and collector Louis La Caze, who had bought it in 1834 for 151 francs.