Maurice Quentin de La Tour (September 5, 1704 – February 17, 1788) was a French
RococoRococo is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings...
portraitistA portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a...
who worked primarily with
pastelPastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation.The noun "pastel" gives rise to:*...
s. Among his most famous subjects were
VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and his defense of civil liberties, including both freedom of religion and free trade.Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in almost every...
,
Louis XVLouis XV ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death on 10 May 1774...
and
Madame de PompadourJeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour , was a member of the French court, and was the official maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV from 1745 to 1750....
.
He was born in
Saint-Quentin, AisneSaint-Quentin is a commune in the Aisne départment in Picardy in northern France. It has been identified as the Augusta Veromanduorum of antiquity. It is named after Saint Quentin, who is said to have been martyred here in the 3rd century....
, the son of a musician who disapproved of his taking up painting. At the age of fifteen La Tour went to Paris, where he entered the studio of the
FlemishFlanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands...
painter Jacques Spoede. He then went to Rheims in 1724 and to England in 1725, returning to Paris to resume his studies around 1727. After his return to Paris, he began working with pastels.
In 1737 La Tour exhibited the first of a splendid series of 150 portraits that served as one of the glories of the
Paris SalonThe Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the western world...
for the next 37 years. Endowing his sitters with a distinctive charm and intelligence, he excelled at capturing the delicate play of their features.
In 1746 La Tour was received into the
Académie de peinture et de sculptureThe Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture , Paris, was founded in 1648, modelled on Italian examples, such as the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Paris already had the Académie de Saint-Luc, which was a city artist guild like any other Guild of Saint Luke...
and in 1751 was promoted to councillor. He was made portraitist to the king in 1750 and held this position until 1773, when he suffered a
nervous breakdownMental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
. For a time the painter
Joseph DucreuxJoseph, baron Ducreux was a French portrait painter, pastelist, miniaturist, and engraver. Born in Nancy, Ducreux may have trained with his father, who was also a painter. Ducreux went to Paris in 1760, and trained as the only student of pastelist Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, who specialized in...
was his only student. La Tour founded an art school and became a philanthropist before being confined to his home because of
mental illnessA mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture. The recognition and understanding of mental disorders has changed over time and...
. He retired at the age of 80 to Saint-Quentin.
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