ANTOINE VESTIER (1740-1824) M. Etienne de Joly (1795-96) Galerie Eric Coatalem, Paris Oil on canvas (81 x 65 cm) (To enlarge the picture, right click on it and chose "Open in another window") Here is another beautiful portrait by Antoine Vestier that shows the talent of this little-known French painter. Like the sitter in my …
Tag: 18th century French painting
The Governor
ANTOINE VESTIER (1740-1824) Eugene Joseph Stanislas Foullon d'Ecotier (1785) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Oil on canvas (80 x 64 cm) (To enlarge the picture, right click on it and chose "Open in a new tab") Antoine Vestier was born in Avallon, Burgundy. Very little is known about his early years. By 1760 he …
From Rags to Riches
JEAN-MARC NATTIER (1685-1766) Empress Catherine I of Russia (1717) Oil on canvas (142 x 110 cm) The Hermitage, St. Petersburg (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") This is a painting of no exceptional artistic merit. The fact that is here is due to its value as a …
The Aristocratic Musician
JEAN-MARC NATTIER (1685-1766) Francis Greville, 8th Baron Brooke, later 1st Earl of Warwick (1741) Oil on canvas (137 x 107 cm) Private collection (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") Jean-Marc Nattier is almost unknown to the majority of English-speaking art lovers, This is a consequence of the …
The Wood Nymph
JEAN RANC (1674-1735) Vertumnus and Pomona (c. 1710-1720) Oil on canvas (171 x 119 cm) Musée Fabre, Montpellier To enlarge the image, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" Jean Ranc was initially trained by his father, Antoine, a Montpellier portraitist with a good reputation, and then by Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743) in Paris, …
Bacchus and Ariadne
JEAN-FRANCOIS DE TROY (1679-1752) Bacchus and Ariadne (1725) Oil on canvas (163 x 130 cm) Musée Fabre, Montpellier To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Jean-Francois de Troy, the most important and gifted member of a family of painters from Toulouse, was taught by his father, Francois de Troy …
Saint Sebastian
FRANCOIS-XAVIER FABRE (1766-1837) The Dying Saint Sebastian (1789) Oil on canvas (196 x 147 cm) Musée Fabre, Montpellier To enlarge the image, right-click on it and then "Open in a new tab" Born in Montpellier on 1 April 1766, Fabre was one of the first students to benefit from the education provided by Montpellier's Societe …
Alphonse Leroy
JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID (1748-1825) Portrait of Alphonse Leroy (c. 1783) Oil on canvas (73 x 95 cm) Musée Fabre, Montpellier To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, the "Open in a new tab" A student of Joseph-Marie Vien, David was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1774 and went there with Vien from 1775 to 1780. …
A Still-Life
JEAN-SIMEON CHARDIN (1699-1779) A Still Life: Two Rabbits, a Grey Partridge and a Game Bag (1731) Oil on canvas (82.5 x 65 cm) National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin To enlarge the image, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" The following text belongs to the entry written by Fiounnala Croke, Curator, National Gallery …
French naughtieness
NICOLAS LANCRET (1690-1743) Mischief (1735) Oil on canvas (36 x 29 cm) National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin To enlarge the image, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" The following text belongs to the entry written by Fiounnala Croke, Curator, National Gallery of Ireland, for the catalogue of the exhibition “European Masterpieces from the …
Old Masters 