Portrait of Laurent-Nicolas de Joubert (Back)

In keeping with the taste for naturalness and simplicity made fashionable by Marie-Antoinette, Laurent-Nicolas de Joubert is informally dressed in his waistcoat, his shirt open at the neck and adorned with a half-undone neckerchief. His crossed arms and open mouth suggest a transitory quality, as though he may speak or gesture at any moment.

Early in his artistic career, François-Xavier Fabre was friendly with Joubert, a wealthy office-holder from Montpellier. The Joubert family were collectors and patrons of the arts and supported the young Fabre's studies in Paris under Jacques-Louis David. Joubert himself was an amateur artist, and Fabre acknowledged this by portraying his friend resting his folded arms on what appears to be a closed sketchbook with paintbrushes nearby.

The pendant to this portrait shows Madame Joubert in an outdoor garden setting. The Joubert family commissioned the pair of paintings to commemorate the marriage.