However, today my curiosity was piqued (again, because I have noticed this detail before) by a painting I found as I was wasting yet another hour on Pinterest. The painting is of Jacques Marquet de Montbreton de Norvins, by Ingres. The reason it stood out to me was because of a small detail, a red patch on the subject's lapel. I have seen this in two other paintings, and that is all. What does it mean?!
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| Jacques Marquet de Montbreton de Norvins, by Ingres Notice the rather sizable red patch on his left lapel. |
I found what must be one of Ingres's sketches for this portrait. Even though this is a black-and-white sketch, you can still see the patch on the Marquet's left lapel.
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| Jacques Marquet de Montbreton de Norvins, by Ingres |
I had noticed, a little while back, two other paintings of gentlemen sporting similar red patches. The first is of Charles Joseph Laurent Cordier, by Ingres (again).
The second is of Comte (Antoine-Georges-Francois) de Chabaud-Latour and his family, by Jacques-Luc Barbier-Walbonne.
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| Portrait of Antoine-Georges-Francois de Chabaud-Latour and his Family |
I found an engraving of Chabaud-Latour, in which he does not have the red patch on his lapel, only a medal (with the rosette pinning it to the lapel).
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| Antoine-Georges-Francois de Chabaud-Latour |
All of the above men are French, and lived during Napoleon's Wars. However, I could only find any information on two:
- Comte (Antoine-Georges-Francois) de Chabaud-Latour: A member of Napoleon's Army (as far as I could discern from my google.translate of French web pages!), and then a member of the French Senate.
- Jacques Marquet de Montbreton de Norvins: A politician and writer writer, who wrote a history of Napoleon and various other historical books relevant to the Wars.
Does anybody know about this bit of sartorial symbolism? I am so curious, and I would like to know what this red patch means before I consider tacking it onto any of the tailcoats I produce.
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