The identical reproduction of the Meuricoffre album, acquired by the Louvre in 2018, is a good opportunity to leaf through one of the only two portrait books attributed to the French painter Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835). It is a testimony to Gros' activity as a portrait painter during his stay in Italy (1793-1800) and illustrates the privileged relationship that the painter had in Genoa with the family of the Franco-Swiss banker Jean-Georges Meuricoffre. The beautiful gallery of portraits, drawn in the intimacy of this family, restores the physiognomies of representatives of Franco-Swiss high society who were in contact with the Meuricoffre family at the time and, through them, with Gros.The study that accompanies the publication of the notebook reveals the hitherto unknown identity of these characters. A material description of the album, an essential scientific support for its understanding, completes the subject.Text in French.
