Le Chancelier d'Aguesseau. By Rigaud. A fine mellow portrait.
Louis XI. A whole length; supposed to be by Leonardo da Vinci. Not very credible. It is a fine, bold, horribly-looking portrait: not in the very best state of preservation.
Blaise Pascal. Very fine. The artist's name is not inscribed; but there is a Murillo-like effect about this portrait, which is very striking. Pascal holds a letter in his hand.
Next to Pascal is a prodigiously fine oval portrait (is it of Fontaine?) by Rigaud. No name is subjoined.
Comtesse de la Fayette. A fine countenance: hands apparently recoloured. In yellow drapery.
Julie-Lucie d'Augennes, Duchesse de Montausier. She died in 1671. The portrait is by Mignard. It represents this celebrated female, when young, encadred by flowers. The carnation tints of the flesh, and the blue lustre of the eye, have nothing finer in the whole circle of Mignard's performances. This is a picture from which the eye is withdrawn with no common reluctance. It is clear, bright, fresh, and speaking.[183]
The Wife of P. de Champagne. She holds a small oval portrait of the mother of her husband, the famous painter, in her lap. The picture is by P. de Champagne himself. The head of the mother is very clever: but the flesh has perhaps too predominant a tint of pinkish-purple throughout.
Madame de la Sabliere. Oval: very clever.
Madame Deshoulieres. Similar, in both repects.
Madame Cornuel. Oval: a stiff performance.