Portrait of Count Adolf von Plettenberg and his Family Robert Tournières

At the height of his career, Robert Tournieres, a prominent French portrait painter of the first half of the eighteenth century, captured Ferdinand Adolf von Plettenberg, an influential politician of the Holy Roman Empire, surrounded by his family. The portrayal of the Count, who posed for the picture, is more natural and his character more plastic than that of his family members, who were painted by the artist based on earlier portraits. The relaxed and self-conscious nobility of the figures, the splendid costumes and the castle garden with its fountains all emphasise their social status. Tournieres drew heavily on the style of his contemporaries Nicolas de Largilliere and Hyacinthe Rigaud, but in this painting, instead of pomp and pathos, a more intimate tone predominates, a delicate painterly quality that strives for decorativeness and offers a wealth of eye-catching, meticulous details.