FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1700, after Nicolas COLOMBEL Portrait of the Actor Philippe Emmanuel de Coulanges, in Carnival Dress Oak panel, one board, not parqueted 32.7 x 22.7 cm Number 204 on reverse Four versions of this composition are known, cited in the exhibition catalog "Nicolas Colombel vers 1644-1717", Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen, 2012-2013, pages 184 to 187, P54 to P57. The model gave up his position as councillor at the Paris parliament to become a chansonnier. A close cousin of Madame de Sévigné, the model wrote to her on January 11, 1691 that his portrait, mask in hand and Hungarian-style bonnet, belonged to Cardinal de Forbin. It had been painted by Colombel in Rome a year earlier during the Carnival.