ADELAIDE LABILLE-GUIARD (1749-1803) Portrait of the sculptor Augustin Pajou (1783) Pastel on paper: 72 x 63 cm Musée du Louvre Adélaide Labille was born in Paris, the youngest of eight children. Her father was a haberdasher who owned a shop named A la Toilette; by a curious coincidence, the future Madame du Barry worked in …
Category: French Artists
A mysterious Gentleman
FRANCOIS-ANDRE VINCENT (1746-1816) Portrait of a gentleman (maybe Monsieur Baillon) Oil on canvas 117 x 89,5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam To enlarge the image, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rescue a fine artist from oblivion. This is the case of François-André Vincent, who …
Harbour Views
CHARLES FRANCOIS LACROIX (LACROIX DE MARSEILLE) (c.1700-1782) Port Scene (1764) Ship Running Aground (1764) Oil on copper 23 x 30,5 cm Private collection Little is known about the artist's early life or when he exactly arrived in Italy, as he is not recorded until 1750 when the marquis de Vandieres met him in Rome. A …
The Abduction of Proserpine
FRANCOIS GIRARDON (1628-1715) The Abduction of Proserpine (1693-1710) Bronze = Height: 105 cm Paul J. Getty Museum, Los Angeles To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Girardon, the most important sculptor of Louis XIV, had a solid academic background thanks to a scholarship provided by Chancellor Seguier. The young …
The Virgin and Child
SIMON VOUET (1590-1649) The Madonna Adoring the Christ Child (1623-26) Oil on canvas 118 x 132 cm Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Simon Vouet is one of the most important French painters of the 19th century. His father Laurent, a painter himself, taught …
The Four Times of Day
CLAUDE JOSEPH VERNET (1714-1789): Morning and Night (c. 1757) Oil on copper (29,5 x 43,5 cm) Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide To enlarge the images, right-click on them on open in a new tab “It would be difficult to cite, before M. Vernet, a painter who has understood as well as he, the …
Charles Etienne Jordan
ANTOINE PESNE (1683-1757) Portrait of Charles Etienne Jordan (1740) Oil on canvas 145 x 110 cm Huis Doorn, The Netherlands To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "open in a new tab" Antoine Pesne, a nephew of the history painter Charles de La Fosse (1636-1716), went to Italy in 1704 after winning the prestigious …
Gerard Meerman
JEAN-BAPTISTE PERRONEAU (1715-1783) Portrait of Gerard Meerman (c.1761) Pastel on paper 88 x 68 cm Museo Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague To enlarge the image right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" In the 1750s, two of the best portrait painters of the XVIIIth century; Jean-Baptiste Perroneau and the Swiss Jean-Etienne Liotard came to the …
The Abduction of Europa
CLAUDE LORRAIN (1600-1682) Landscape with the Abduction of Europa (1647) Oil on canvas: 96 x 167 cm Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" This painting is usually called "The Rape of Europa"; however, since the word rape in the English language has …
“Vanitas” by Largilliere
NICOLAS DE LARGILLIERE (1656-1746) Vanitas (1677) Oil on canvas 74 x 61 cm Stichting Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, Heino, The Netherlands To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Nicolas de Largillière (or Largillierre) was born in Paris but his family moved to Antwerp in 1659. At an early age, he …
Old Masters 