![François-Xavier Fabre - Portrait of Laurent-Nicolas de Joubert [1787] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3678/9150627602_749a94eea2.jpg)
François-Xavier Fabre - Portrait of Laurent-Nicolas de Joubert [1787], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.
In keeping with the taste for naturalness and simplicity made fashionable by Marie-Antoinette, Laurent-Nicolas de Joubert is informally dressed in his waistcoat, his shirt open at the neck and adorned with a half-undone neckerchief. His crossed arms and open mouth suggest a transitory quality, as though he may speak or gesture at any moment.
Early in his artistic career, François-Xavier Fabre (French, Montpellier, 1766 - Montpellier, 1837) was friendly with Joubert, a wealthy office-holder from Montpellier. The Joubert family were collectors and patrons of the arts and supported the young Fabre's studies in Paris under Jacques-Louis David. Joubert himself was an amateur artist, and Fabre acknowledged this by portraying his friend resting his folded arms on what appears to be a closed sketchbook with paintbrushes nearby.
The pendant to this portrait shows Madame Joubert in an outdoor garden setting. The Joubert family commissioned the pair of paintings to commemorate the marriage.
[Getty Centre, Los Angeles - Oil on canvas, 30.75 x 24 inches]