For this exhibition, the Small Gallery is dedicated to the painter Antoine Raspal of Arles.
A major artist of the 18th century, he occupies an essential place in the study of costume and fashion. He is, without doubt, the most reliable source for the representation of Arles fashion in the Age of Enlightenment.
Admire, in the portraits on display, the quality of the textiles and lace. His sisters, Catherine and Thérèse Raspal, ran a dressmaking workshop on Place (or Rue) du Sauvage, among the ruins of the Roman baths of Constantine, on the banks of the Rhône, just a few meters from here. They were, for Arles society, what Rose Bertin was at the court of Marie-Antoinette: they dictated fashion and created the most sought-after dresses among the aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie of the city.
Look closely at the portrait of this young aristocrat dressed in pale mauve. Her robe à la polonaise is sumptuously decorated with marbled silk ribbons and gauze pleats. Around her neck, suspended from a velvet ribbon, she wears a miniature portrait of her husband, set with diamonds. Such luxury, such refinement!
At the center of the composition, Antoine Raspal takes us into the intimacy of Monsieur Noguier, a wealthy Arles merchant trading in silk with the city of Lyon.
A resident of the Trinquetaille district, across the Rhône, he is seated at his desk, quill in hand, in the act of writing a letter. The collar of his shirt is casually open, and his Lyon silk dressing gown reveals an embroidered waistcoat and breeches belonging to a fine habit à la française, painted with a jeweler’s precision.
Above him hang two trompe-l’œil engravings by the sculptor and engraver from Arles, Jean-Joseph Balechou. Rue Balechou today corresponds to the east façade of the museum!
Let us now continue the visit towards the grand staircase—or, if needed, take the elevator to your left.