Georges de Roose

Portrait of Louis-François Cochet de Corbeaumont, squire and lord of Busnes, Corbeaumont, and Fauquetin. Member of the nobility of northern France, he was born in Busnes (Pas-de-Calais) May 16, 1724. In 1750, he married Catherine-Françoise de Gomer, daughter of the Marquis de Gomer. Their son, Louis-Gabriel Cocher of Corbeaumont (1754-1835), was mayor of Busnes between 1805-1830 and author of a book on Falconry entitled “La fauconnerie ou Essais en plein vol“. This being the only French text on falconry of the time, it is a work by an aristocratic witness to one of the last full flight hunts in the old regime. The Cochet family of Corbeaumont lived in the beautiful Quesnoy castle (Busnes), unfortunately burned in 1899 due to a fire in the kitchen. Only the 18th century chapel remains, dedicated to Notre Dame de Montligeon, and recently restored by a heritage association. The Corbeaumont family has no known descendants and was buried in Busnes communal cemetery, which has now disappeared. Louis-François died on June 24, 1798 in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) at the age of 74 years.

Georges-Louis de Roose, Belgian portrait painter, was born in Kortrijk (West Flanders) on April 26, 1701 and died in Saint-Omer, September 24, 1765. According to the custom of the time, de Roose travelled quite a bit at the onset of his career. He next settled in Bruges where he made various portraits. He also painted four paintings for the Abbey of Eeckhoutte depicting scenes from the life of Saint Augustine (now lost). De Roose left Bruges where he apparently had Jan Gaeremyn as a pupil, to settle in Saint-Omer, in 1749, where he died on September 24, 1765.

De Roose painted this portrait in 1758, when the sitter, Louis-François Couchet of Corbeaumont, was 34 years old. He is wearing a hunter's outfit and bears a rifle on his shoulder.

This painting is in very good condition, recently restored and relined. It is set in a gilt wood and stucco 19th century frame. The following handwritten inscription appears on the back of the canvas (currently covered): “Louis François Cochet de Corbeaumont, 34 years old. G.L. de Roose fecit 1758" and there is a faint annotation in pencil on the back of the frame "Succession Montcalm" (Montcalm Estate).

Sources: Archives de France ; Biographie Nationale - Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, 1910.

Artist: Georges de Roose (1701-1765).
Signed and dated on back, 1758.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 82 x 65 cm. / 32 ¼ x 25 ½ in.
Frame: 100 x 84 cm. / 39 ½ x 33 in. Gilt wood and stucco, 19th century. Very good condition.
Origin : France.