The sugar planter Michel Douradou Bringier was a wealthy Creole conscious of his place in French Louisiana society. As a Creole, Bringier belonged to a community of planters of French descent who eagerly patronized French artists like François Bernard and Jacques Amans. Through his adroit use of light and shadow, the observant Amans delineated Bringier's person meticulously--the folds and pressed seams of his clothing, the olive tone of his complexion, the hair on his face and hands. Like ancestral portraits in an English country house, this portrait and that of Bringier's wife and son were probably hung at l'Hermitage, the showplace of Bringier's vast property.