AVED, Jacques-André-Joseph - b. 1702 Douai, d. 1766 Paris - WGA

AVED, Jacques-André-Joseph

(b. 1702 Douai, d. 1766 Paris)

French painter and collector. His father, Jean-Baptiste Havet, a doctor of Armenian origin, died when Aved was a child. He was brought up in Amsterdam by his step-father, a captain in the Dutch Guards. At 16 he is said to have become a pedlar or ‘camelot’ (hence the nickname Camelot given to him by his French acquaintances) travelling through the Netherlands, drawing portraits at fairs. In 1721, after spending short periods in the Amsterdam studios of the French engraver Bernard Picart and of the draughtsman François Boitard, he left the Netherlands to work in the Paris studio of the fashionable portrait painter Alexis-Simon Belle. At this time he met other notable painters including Carle Van Loo and the portrait painters Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Jean-Baptiste Perronneau and Jean-Etienne Liotard. He also formed a deep and lasting friendship with Jean-Siméon Chardin, with whom he may have collaborated on occasion; they used similar techniques, and he may have encouraged Chardin to turn from still-life painting to figure painting in the 1730s.

He was accepted (agréé) at the Académie in 1731, and received three years later on presenting portraits (now at Versailles) of Jean-François De Troy and Cazes, the master of Chardin. It is customary to link Aved and Chardin, rightly, because the two men were friendly. Chardin painted Aved’s portrait, and Aved owned some of his still-lifes. Yet Aved seems to have been friendly also with Boucher and Carle van Loo, at least in these early years. His patrons proved quite often to be royal or at least noble; ambassadors like Count Tessin sat to him, and Louis XV commissioned a portrait which, however, caused Aved trouble and which took long to complete. It may well be that court portraiture as such did not suit him, but he travelled to The Hague in 1750 to paint the Stadhouder William (Amsterdam) - with rather conventional results.

A Lady with Embroidery

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Jean-Philippe Rameau with Violin

One of the charming aspects of the first half of the eighteenth century French painting was the considerable number of portraits that now constitute a gallery of the notable figures of the day. Among the finest examples is a rather warm likeness of Jean-Philippe Rameau in a red jerkin by Jacques Aved.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes):

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Castor et Pollux, March

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Madame Crozat

The remarkable portrait of Madame Crozat was shown at the Salon in 1741. In this portrait Aved conveys something of the sitter’s character - including a lack of vanity - and her ordinary existence. With her tapestry work and a teapot handy in the background, she might stand as representative of the highest bourgeoisie: sensible, comfortable, industrious. It was thought worth commenting on in 1741 that another woman would have suppressed the fact of those spectacles which Madame Crozat has just taken off and still holds; Aved seizes on this very detail to give a sense of momentary pause in a pleasantly busy domestic life.

In the nineteenth century the painting was supposed to be by Chardin.

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Portrait of Carl Gustav Tessin, Swedish Politician

Carl Gustaf Tessin (1695-1770) was a Swedish Count and politician and son of architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. He was one of the most brilliant personages of his day, and the most prominent representative of French culture in Sweden. He was also a fine orator.

The Swedish ambassador Carl Gustaf Tessin sits in his library in a dressing gown, surrounded by his collections. In his hands, he holds an engraving by Marc-Antonio Raimondi of Raphael’s fresco The Triumph of Galatea. The arrows fired by the cupids in the engraving seem to be aimed at Tessin’s heart – perhaps an expression of his love for the great master of art. The portrait was intended as a gift to his friend, the architect Carl Harleman.

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Portrait of Marc de Villiers

Jacques-Andr�-Joseph Aved created a sense of immediacy by depicting Marc de Villiers (born 1711), a high government official to the court of Louis XV, leaning slightly forward while fixing the spectator with an intense gaze. Next to him an ornate desk is covered with parliamentary and state papers. Grasping the arm of the chair as if about to rise, Villiers holds a copy of Homer’s Iliad in his right hand, giving the impression that he has been interrupted while reading. By appearing in his study and in casual dress, the sitter presents himself not only as a high-ranking official but also as a gentleman scholar.

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