ENLIGHTENMENT

An Imaginary Exhibition

A panorama of XVIIIth-century French painting is presented in this exhibition through the works of one hundred selected artists. In addition to the pictorial world, the history, music, literature and science of the period are recalled in the background to these occasionally little-known works from eighteen museums all over France.

Exhibition organised by:

* The Ministère de la culture et de la francophonie:

Direction des musées de France and Département de l'organisation et des systèmes d'information ,

* The Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique (INRIA).

Sponsored by:

* BULL,

* The Comité interministériel de l'informatique et de la bureautique dans l'administration (CIIBA),

* The Cercle pour les projets innovants en informatique (CP21).

Any comments may be sent to:

* Laurent MANOEUVRE (Direction des musées de France)

+33 1 40 15 35 37

manoeuvre@culture.fr

* Gilles DENIAUD (INRIA)

+33 1 39 63 57 58

Gilles. Deniaud@inria.fr

THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

in the paintings of France's national museums

Historical background

The age of Enlightenment can be situated between the death of Louis XIV, in 1715, and the coup d'état of the 18th Brumaire (9th November) 1799, when the future emperor Napoléon Bonaparte took power. The intervening period may be divided into several stages: first the Regency (1715-1723), followed by the reigns of Louis XV (1723-1774) and Louis XVI (1774-1791), and finally the French Revolution (1789-1799).

France, at that time the most densely populated country in Europe, was to experience almost eighty years of domestic peace and economic prosperity. With the emergence of the philosophical spirit in salons, cafés and clubs, came the gradual erosion of monarchical authority, undermined by tentative, short-lived reforms and opposition from the aristocracy. Strengthened by their new-found financial power, the capitalistic bourgeoisie showed clear signs of wanting to annex political power, an ambition that would be achieved from 1789 onwards.

In the domain of the arts, the ageing Louis XIV hoped to see "childhood instilled in everything." Under the Regency, this trend of light-heartedness became more pronounced and was to flourish during the reign of Louis XV. The widespread taste for elegance, comfort and beautiful objects even infiltrated the ranks of the bourgeoisie. But, in the second half of the century, the philosophers reacted against society's libertine tendencies, with which they associated the rocaille style. They advocated a return to the virtues of Ancient and Republican Rome, the majority of which would be adopted as the revolutionary ideal.

The Regency (1715-1723)

Since Louis XV was only five years old in 1715, Louis XIV's nephew, the Duke of Orléans, became regent. The court left Versailles to take up residence in Paris. Thus began a period marked by its liberalisation of institutions, religion and ethics, after the imposed rigour of the last years of the preceding reign. In the words of a popular song, "C'est le joli temps de la Regence / Où l'on fit tout , excepté pénitence" (It's the time of the Regency / When we can do everything, except penitence), but that did not stop Voltaire from being imprisoned in the Bastille in 1717. The ban on Italian comedy, formerly regarded as licentious, was lifted. In the political arena, the upper aristocracy, including one of its most famous representatives, the Duke of Saint-Simon, and Parliament hampered the government, which was helpless both in the face of such blanket opposition to change and in its difficult financial situation, aggravated by the failure of Law's state banking system.

According to the princess Palatine, the regent "loved the arts and, above all, painting." The refined, distant vision of Antoine Watteau and his two rivals, Pater and Lancret, epitomise the spirit of the day. But, in spite of his excesses, the regent was Louis XIII's grandson and entertained a certain idea of grandeur. He thus appointed Antoine Coypel, the representative of what was then termed the grand genre , to be his First Painter.

The reign of Louis XV (1723-1774)

On the death of the regent, Louis XV acceded to the throne. But the real power was held first by the Duke of Bourbon, then by Cardinal de Fleury, who managed to redress the economy. In 1730, the clergy refused Christian burial to the famous actress Adrienne Lecouvreur, whose body was thrown on the city dump. Louis XV governed by himself between 1743 and 1758. The same year as the disastrous Battle of Rossbach (1757), the publication of the Encyclopedia was forbidden. The king entrusted the ruling of the kingdom to the Duke of Choiseul, who indirectly favoured parliament and the philosophers' opposition. In 1770, with the arrival of the Maupeou, Aiguillon and Terray triumvirate, tougher measures were taken. A growing interest in all forms of science developed and would be pursued under the following reign. France's cultural influence had never been so profound (Voltaire was summoned to the court of Frederick II of Prussia), but, in foreign affairs, despite a number of military successes, the nation appeared politically weakened, as the loss of Canada in 1763 was to prove.

The Marquise de Pompadour became the king's mistress in 1745, the year in which Voltaire was appointed historiographer to the king. She was to play an important role in the domain of arts and letters. She secured a post for her brother, the Marquis de Marigny, as Administrator of Royal Residences. Carefully prepared for his new duties, the latter judiciously gave commissions to artists of the rocaille style, like Boucher and Fragonard, as well as to more classical artists, like Greuze, Vernet, Carle Van Loo and Vien.

The reign of Louis XVI (1774-1791)

Open-minded, interested in science and geography, but indecisive, Louis XVI let himself be ruled by his wife, Marie-Antoinette, and his brothers, the Count of Artois and the Count of Provence. Confronted by the aristocracy, the king was unable to impose the reforms undertaken by his "enlightened" ministers, Turgot, Malesherbes, Vergennes, Necker, Calonne and Loménie de Brienne, who would all fail in their attempts to redress the country's finances. From 1788 onwards, France sank into an economic depression. While the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, in 1783, had ended the American War of Independence, for those members of society who were tired of absolute monarchy it had also sanctioned the republican ideal.

As for the arts, the Count of Angiviller, Administrator of Royal Residences, with his advisor Jean-Baptiste Pierre, First Painter to the King, enforced the supremacy of history painting. Vien, head of the French Academy in Rome, encouraged the neoclassical tendencies of certain prizewinning residents, such as Regnault, Suvée, Peyron and David.

The Revolution (1789-1799)

The States General, assembled at Versailles from 9th July 1789 onwards, abolished absolute monarchy and the feudal system. They adopted The Declaration of the Rights of Man and established a constitution in France, now "one and indivisible." The war with neighbouring countries, supported by both Louis XVI, no longer King of France, but King of the French people, and the majority of the members of the legislative Assembly, hastened the fall of the monarchy and the proclamation of the Republic. The excessive violence of the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary factions, together with the economic crisis and the rising power of the army contributed to Napoléon Bonaparte's successful coup d'état in 1799.

Some painters, like Jean-Germain Drouais, used this troubled period as a pretext for glorifying the heroes of an exemplary Antiquity. Others, like Boilly and David, chose to depict contemporary events and would soon rally to the Empire. Hennequin became involved with the most intransigent of revolutionary groups, while Gros was quick to champion the Bonapartist epic.

Painting

The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture dominated the arts throughout the Age of Enlightenment. The hierarchy of genres was omnipotent and state commissions were awarded only to academicians. But the court gradually lost its exclusivity in matters of taste and individual patronage took on a new significance.

Up to around 1750, painting was imbued with pleasure, fable and light-heartedness. But, in the second half of the century, painters found themselves faced with a choice. Were they to be charming or instructive? Just as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Diderot denounced society's decadence and exhorted a return to a simple, virtuous way of life, the trend towards heroic Antiquity, which in David and Jean-Germain Drouais' works soon became synonymous with revolutionary valour, was directly opposed to the rocaille style and its best-known exponents Boucher and Fragonard. But, between these two extremes, were a host of nuanced styles sometimes represented by lesser-known painters, such as Natoire. At the very end of the century, the François Gérard, Gros and Girodet generation was already forming the avant-garde of Romanticism.

The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture

The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture was the brainchild of painter Charles Le Brun and was founded in 1648 under Mazarin's patronage. With its strict hierarchical system of organisation: director, chancellor, rector, professors, academicians and elected members, the Royal Academy rapidly monopolised the arts. Up to the time of David, himself a product of the Academy, its opponents were rare, as were the painters who made a successful career outside this powerful institution. The Rome Prize confirmed the end of young artists' initial studies and enabled the winners to go to the French Academy in Rome to complete their training. Certain artists, like Barbault or Vernet, who had trained in the provinces, went to Italy on their own initiative and chose to make their career there. To enter the ranks of the Academy, artists had to have their admission piece accepted. Members exhibited their works in the Louvre's salon carré (square room) every two years; consequently, this exhibition became known as the Salon. The posts of first painters, ordinary painter and inspector or inspector general of royal factories were usually reserved for academicians. Only the Count of Artois and Marie-Antoinette would appoint painters who did not belong to this venerable establishment: Moreau the Elder and Ducreux respectively. A few foreign artists were admitted to the Royal Academy and other Academies set up in the provinces and abroad were often based on the Parisian model.

The hierarchy of genres

Even though painters constantly went beyond the limits of their assigned speciality, the hierarchy of genres remained an essential criterion in eighteenth-century painting. Jean-Antoine Watteau was the only one to invent a short-lived genre known as the fête galante . The genres were graded in order of importance, starting at the top: history painting, the portrait, genre painting, still-life and landscape.

History painting

Also known as the grand genre , it was the noblest form of art. The first painter to the king, the directors of the Academy and of the French Academy in Rome were always chosen from its exponents. What distinguished it from other genres was the importance laid on the human figure, rather than the severity of the subject, for, in the eighteenth century, history painting did not solely infer heroism and austerity. David, Jean-François de Troy, Noël Hallé, Lemoyne, Natoire, Restout, Subleyras, Carle Van Loo, Vien and Vincent, but also Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, all belonged to this category of painters. History painting included biblical scenes, religious scenes, historical scenes or scenes from Antiquity, occasionally embellished with symbolic or allegorical references, mythological scenes and subjects borrowed from more or less modern literary sources.

The portrait

"The Salon will imperceptibly become nothing more than a portrait gallery. They take up almost a third of this one," observed Diderot. This enthusiasm for the portrait testifies to the Age of Enlightenment's sustained interest in mankind. Alongside recognised portraitists, other painters - Boilly, Boucher, David, Danloux, Duplessis, Fragonard, Greuze, Gros, Prud'hon, Vincent, Wicar - eagerly tried their hand at this sought-after and thus profitable genre. Rigaud, Alexis-Simon Belle, Aved, Nattier, François-Hubert Drouais, Tocqué, Ducreux, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun worked for the court of France, while Louis-Michel Van Loo found custom at the Spanish court. Roslin was much esteemed by the aristocracy, as was Largillière by the upper middle classes, Perronneau by the bourgeoisie involved in international business and Aubry by artists. François Gérard became the Bonaparte family's favourite portraitist under the First Empire. The pictorial quality of this genre was often coupled with a genuine iconographical interest, with portraits of architects, men of letters, musicians, actors, painters or sculptors, prelates, politicians, royalty and scholars.

Parallel to these realist portraits, generally reserved for the bourgeoisie and artists, the mythological portrait also enjoyed a certain amount of success, especially at court.

Genre painting

Sometimes termed the petit genre , or the genre scene, it was often anecdotal and light-hearted. Inspired by XVIIth-century Dutch painting, it usually depicted interior scenes or scenes from everyday life. With subjects and sizes adapted to the cosy interiors of the period, the genre was much appreciated, especially by the bourgeoisie. History painters like Boucher had so few qualms about tackling this genre, which flourished throughout the century, that it was sometimes difficult to discern the border between grand genre and petit genre . Thus, despite his efforts to be admitted as a history painter, Greuze was only accepted by the Academy in the genre-scene category.

Still-life

Regarded as a minor genre, officially still-life was little known. Nevertheless, it was occasionally included in history compositions and portraits. In the other categories, painters were required by the Academy to present one admission piece, but those specialising in still-life had to submit two. First Painter Jean-Baptiste Pierre, who wished to impose history painting as the supreme genre, made sure Chardin was never given an official position. Still-life can be divided into two categories: the sumptuous style represented by Desportes, Largillière and Oudry was inherited from the Baroque manner, while the more intimate vision of Chardin, Roland Delaporte and Anne Vallayer-Coster was inspired by Dutch painting. Certain masters, such as Oudry, Ordinary Painter of Royal Hunts, or Desportes, moved imperceptibly from still-life to animal painting.

Landscape

In the hierarchy of genres, landscape was the lowest category. Though few painters adopted it professionally, many, even the greatest, like Largillière, Oudry, Boucher, Fragonard or David, tried their hand at it in private, in sketches or drawings. Works depicting an exact location are rare, since academic tradition required landscapes to be ideal, and thus timeless. Nevertheless, apart from these composed landscapes, others bore witness to a rigorous observation of nature.

Landscape according to the strictest definition of the term was the speciality of Allegrain, Houel, Lacroix de Marseille, Moreau the Elder, Vernet and Valenciennes and should be associated with the architectural views executed by De Machy, Lallemand and Hubert Robert.

State commissions

The Administrator of Royal Residences played a cardinal role in official artistic policy. It was often he who, concurring with the king, suggested commissions and chose an artist. Holders of this position included the Duke of Antin from 1708-1736, Philibert Orry from 1736-1745, Le Normand de Tournehem from 1745-1751, Marigny from 1751-1774 and finally Angiviller from 1774 onwards. Marigny skilfully balanced the tastes of his sister, the Marquise de Pompadour, and the king for rocaille painting with the new more severe trends. Angiviller, advised by First Painter Jean-Baptiste Pierre, attempted to impose history painting's supremacy.

Besides the state portraits of the sovereign, commissions covered the decoration of royal or official buildings and tapestry models and cartoons destined for the royal factories. Certain commissions were used for propaganda purposes. Subjects from French history showed the permanence of monarchical authority. Vernet's ports of France were discreet reminders of the advantages of the government's maritime policy.

Individual patronage

Following a long-established tradition, religious institutions continued to provide artists with a substantial number of commissions.

Among leading figures close to the monarchy, a certain synthesis occasionally occurred between official and personal taste. When the Duke of Orléans became regent, he appointed his favourite painter, Antoine Coypel, First Painter to the King. Philibert Orry, Controller General of Finances and Administrator of Royal Residences, commissioned Natoire to execute a series of paintings for his Château de La Chapelle-Godefroy, near Nogent-sur-Seine.

In the provinces, by choosing to employ innovative artists, wealthy art lovers were sometimes ahead of official tendencies. In Bordeaux, the lawyer Saige asked Pierre Lacour to decorate his mansion, built by Victor Louis, while the future member of the National Convention, Boyer-Fonfrède, engaged Vincent. In Beaune, the Baron de Joursanvault discovered and patronized young artists like Prud'hon and Jean-Claude Naigeon.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF ARTISTS

ARTISTS' PLACE OF ORIGIN

PARIS and its region

FOREIGN COUNTRIES

INDEX OF ARTISTS

Chronological list of Rome prizewinners and heads of the French Academy in Rome

Short genealogy

CATALOGUE OF WORKS

Allegrain Etienne

Paris, 1644; Paris, 1736.

Academician and specialist in "heroic" landscape.

The Hôtel des Invalides seen from the Banks of the Seine.

Oil on canvas; 37 cm x 54 cm.

Executed between 1706 and 1736. Formerly attributed to Francisque Millet, before being attributed to Allegrain by Marandet. Dominique Morlot Bequest to the city of Troyes in 1833.

Troyes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 833.1.18).

Anonymous, French School

Screen of the Independence

Oil on canvas mounted on a wooden chassis; 135 cm x 238 cm (four panels of equal dimension).

Executed between 1781 and 1789. Entered the Bihn Gallery. Gift of Anne Murray-Dike to the French State before 1928.

The officers depicted on the upper left and right panels are La Fayette and Washington. Hanging on the pyramid of immortality, which recalls the Battle of Yorktown (see Ménageot's painting Allegory of the Birth of the Dauphin ), are medallion portraits of La Fayette, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. America is represented by Indians, while a woman in a cloak adorned with fleurs-de-lys symbolises France. The lower central panels illustrate the existing trade links between France and America.

Blérancourt, Musée National de la Coopération Franco-Américaine (inv. CFA C 133).

Aubry Etienne

Versailles, 1745; Versailles, 1781.

Academician, portraitist and genre-scene painter.

Christoph Willibald Glück.

Oil on canvas; 62 cm x 52 cm (oval).

Apocryphal signature: Greuze 1777. Engraving after this painting dated 1781. In the Vibert sale on 28 April 1887 (ndeg. 30). Antonin Marmontel Bequest to the French State in 1907. Falsely attributed to Jean-Baptiste Greuze by Brière in 1924.

The composer Christoph Willibald Glück (1714-1787) was musical director at the Viennese court. In collaboration with the Italian writer Calzabigi, he undertook to reform opera, which led to much controversy, especially in France, where he had settled in 1773.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 1715).

Aved Joseph

Douai, 1702; Paris, 1776.

Academician, Painter to the King, he was primarily a high-society portraitist.

Victor Riqueti, Marquis of Mirabeau.

Oil on canvas; 146 cm x 113 cm.

Exhibited at the 1743 Salon. Purchased by the French State from Madame de Villeneuve in 1850.

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "Portrait of M. the Marquis of Mirabeau in his Cabinet, leaning on M. Follard's Polybe ." Victor Riqueti, Marquis of Mirabeau (1715-1789), nicknamed "the friend of mankind", after the title of one of his books, was an economist. In 1760, he published his Theory of Taxation for which he was imprisoned at Vincennes. Father of the politician, he declared himself as much an enemy of despotism and superstition as the Philosophers. At the time of this portrait, the sitter had not yet abandoned his military career. Jean-Claude de Follard (1669-1752), author of the book Polybe on which the model is leaning, was a man of war and a reputed tactician.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 2374).

Bacler d'Albe Louis

Saint-Pol, 1761; Sèvres, 1848.

Military general, he specialised in painting battle scenes.

The Battle of Rivoli.

Oil on canvas; 42 cm x 80 cm.

Signed, dated and situated: AtRivoli, 25 nivose AN 5, Ber de .

Purchased by the French State from the artist in 1834.

On 14th January 1797, Bonaparte's victory at Rivoli, a town in northern Italy, brought about the fall of Mantua, then under Austrian protection.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 1680, INV 2398, LP 963).

Barbault Jean

Viarmes, 1718; Rome, 1762.

Made his career in Rome from 1747 onwards.

Roman Girl with Dowry.

Oil on canvas; 24 cm x 18 cm.

Signed: Barbault (bottom centre)

Executed in Rome around 1750. A pendant is also found at the Musée d'Orléans (inv. 71-7-1). There are at least five other slightly varying versions of this painting, which was engraved by Léon Gaucherel in 1862. Léon Gaucherel Collection (1863). Count Vandalin-Mniszech sale, Paris, 10 March 1926 (ndeg. 30). Mr. and Mrs. Henry Luce sale, New York, 22 October 1970. Purchased by the city of Orléans on the London art market in 1971.

The young woman wears the costume of girls whose dowries were provided by the Pope, either to help them get married or for those intending to take holy orders.

Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 71-7-2).

Beaufort Jacques Antoine

Paris, 1721; Rueil, 1784.

Academician, history painter.

Roman Charity.

Oil on wood; 32 cm x 25 cm.

Signed: A. Beaufort (bottom left)

Exhibited at the 1777 Salon. Alexandre Poirson Bequest to the city of Bordeaux in 1900.

Latin historian Valere Maxime relates how a convicted Roman woman was sentenced to death by starvation. Her daughter was surprised secretly breastfeeding her. Pliny adds that a temple of filial piety was then built on the site of the prison. In Festus' version of the same story, the woman is replaced by a man, Cimon, whose daughter Pera's name is specified.

Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. BXE 1069 140, BXM 6724).

Belle Alexis Simon

Paris, 1674; ?, 1734.

Academician and favourite portraitist at the French and Polish courts.

Marie Leszczynska, Queen of France, and the Dauphin.

Oil on canvas; 170 cm x 139 cm.

Executed circa 1730. Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

Daughter of Stanislas Leszczynski, King of Poland, Marie Leszczynska (1703-1768) married Louis XV in 1725 and was to give him six daughters and one son, Louis of Bourbon (1729-1765), Dauphin of France, who is portrayed here. The prince is wearing the Order of the Holy Spirit. The arms of France and Poland can be seen on the back of the seat.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 3756; INV 2485; B 402).

Belle Clément

Paris, 1722; Paris, 1806.

Academician, professor then rector of the Academy, history painter and portraitist.

Minerva Hands Hercules the Decree Abolishing the Vices of the Former Government.

Oil on canvas; 356 cm x 386 cm.

Model for the tapestry ordered by the Count of Angiviller in 1788 for the Gobelins factory. Originally part of a triptych (inventory numbers of the other two elements: inv. 20297 B and C) on the theme of the Temple of Themis, transformed in 1794 into an Allegory of the Revolution . Manner and date of acquisition unknown.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 20297 A)

Berjon Antoine

Lyons, 1754; Lyons, 1843.

Silk designer, pastellist and watercolourist, he was also the society portrait painter of Lyons.

Madrepores and Shells.

Oil on canvas; 75 cm x 56 cm.

Signed, situated, dated: Berjon Lyon 1810 (bottom left).

Presented at the 1810 Salon under the title Shells and Madrepores on a Porphyry Pedestal, then at the exhibition of the Society of the Friends of the Arts at St. Peter's Palace in Lyons in 1843-4. Purchased by the city of Lyons in 1844.

Lyons, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. A 1768).

Berthélemy Jean Simon

Laon, 1743; Paris, 1811.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, history painter specialising in the Middle Ages and opera costume designer.

The Constancy of Eliezer.

Oil on wood; 40.5 cm x 32 cm.

Study executed between 1787 and 1789 for a work exhibited at the 1789 Salon now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Angers. Another study for the same painting is in the Musée de Laon. A sketch can also be found in the Musée de la Chartreuse in Douai. Purchased by the city of Douai at an auction sale on 7 November 1963 at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris (ndeg. 3).

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "Eliezer, one of the leading scribes and doctors of law, whom Antiochus wanted to force to sacrifice to idols, preferred death to the crime of eating forbidden meat." When his friends urged him to pretend to eat the flesh forbidden by the sacred law, Eliezer replied: "At our age [...], it is not fitting to pretend, for fear that numerous young people, convinced that Eliezer, at ninety years of age, had embraced foreign customs, would also be lost, because of me and my deceit..." He was thus tortured to death, "setting an example of courage and virtue not only for the youth of the day, but also for the great majority of the nation." The scene was taken from the Bible's second book of Maccabaeus (VI, 18-31) and heralded the virtuous examples so often represented during the Revolution.

Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse (inv. 2780).

Bertin Nicolas

Paris, 1668; Paris, 1736.

Academician, he worked a great deal for the German princes.

Hercules Rescuing Prometheus.

Oil on canvas; 63 cm x 52 cm.

Study executed around 1703 for the admission piece to the Academy (in the Louvre Museum, inv. 2537). Jules Audéoud Donation to the city of Rouen in 1885.

This work depicts Hercules' eighth exploit. While he was travelling through the Caucasus to reach the garden of the Hesperides, the hero slew with his arrow the eagle which gnawed the liver of Prometheus. The latter had been sentenced to this eternal torture for having stolen fire from Jupiter to give to men. Prometheus thanked his rescuer by telling him how to obtain the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides.

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 885.1.13).

Bidauld Joseph

Carpentras, 1758; Montmorency, 1846.

France's principal representative, together with Valenciennes, of neoclassical landscape; he became a member of the Institute and was awarded the Legion of Honour.

View of the City of Avezzano, on Lake Cellano, in the Kingdom of Naples.

Oil on canvas; 37 cm x 49 cm.

Signed, dated: J.Ph. Bidauld 1789.

Purchased by the French State at the artist's posthumous sale on 25 March 1847 (ndeg. 49).

Bidauld lived in Italy between 1785 and 1790. This small-scale work was probably sketched, if not entirely executed, outside on the spot.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 2601).

Boilly Louis Léopold

La Bassée, 1761; Paris, 1845.

Specialist in gallant or didactic scenes, much appreciated under the Revolution and the Directoire.

Gathering of Artists in Isabey's Studio.

Oil on canvas; 71.5 cm x 111 cm.

Signed: L. Boilly.

Exhibited at the 1798 Salon. Arnault sale on 15 April 1835 (ndeg. 36). H. Seguin sale on 9 May 1866. Horsin-Déon sale on 28 February 1867 (ndeg. 12). Biesta-Monrival Bequest to the French State in 1901 (actual entry in 1911).

Depicted from left to right are: the composer Etienne Mehul, the art critic Hoffman, an unidentified person, the sculptor Charles-Louis Corbet, the painters Michel-Martin Drolling, Jean-Louis Demarne, Jean-Baptiste Isabey leaning towards the easel, François Gérard sitting in front of the easel, Nicolas-Antoine Taunay and Jacques-François-Joseph Swebach, the miniaturist Charles Bourgeois, the painters Guillaume Lethière and Carle Vernet, the engraver Duplessi-Bertaux, the architects Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine and Charles Percier, the actor Baptiste, senior member of the Comédie Française, sitting next to a portfolio of drawings, the painter-architect Jean-Thomas Thibaut, the painters Jan Frans Van Dael and Pierre-Joseph Redouté, the actor Talma, the painters Charles Meynier and Louis-Léopold Boilly, the actor Chenard from the Italian theatre, the painters Xavier Bidault and Girodet-Trioson, sitting looking at the spectator, the sculptor Denis Chaudet, the engraver Maurice Blot, the sculptor François-Frédéric Lemot, the painter Gioacchino Serangeli and an unknown figure.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 1290 bis).

Boucher François

Paris, 1703; Paris, 1770.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, director of the Academy, First Painter to the King, chief inspector of the Gobelins and Beauvais tapestry factories.

Morning Coffee.

Oil on canvas; 81.5 cm x 65.5 cm.

Signed, dated: f. Boucher 1739.

Anonymous sale, 26 March 1749 ( ndeg. 50). Prousteau sale, 5 June 1769 (ndeg. 51). Sale, Paris, 9 December 1783 (ndeg. 3). Sale, Paris, 22-23 March 1827 (ndeg. 18). Gueting sale, 19 February 1848 (ndeg. 11). Ramsay sale, Christie's, London, 20 June 1855 (ndeg. 279). Camille Marcille sale, 12-13 January 1857 (ndeg. 6). Jules Duclos sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 20-21 November 1878 (ndeg. 50). Anonymous sale, 13-15 April 1881 (ndeg. 1). Dr. Achille Malécot Bequest to the French State in 1895.

Two studies were drawn for the woman drinking coffee; one is in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the other was formerly in the Liechtenstein Collection in Vaduz. A sketch of the man holding the coffee pot can be seen in the Art Institute of Chicago.

This painting is a perfect illustration of what was then called the genre scene: a moment of everyday life in a cosy interior. The furniture, wall-clock, sconces, pier glass and fireplace are all in the rocaille style. The magot, near the mirror, like the vase on the pedestal table, testify to the vogue for "Chinoiseries." One of the young women is wearing patches on her face, thus conforming to the fashion of the day. On the right of the composition, the child whose head is padded to protect him against potential bumps adds a domestic detail.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 926).

Bounieu Michel Honoré

Marseilles, 1740; Paris, 1814.

Admitted to the Academy as a history painter, he also executed still-lifes and genre scenes.

Bathers.

Oil on canvas; 78 cm x 51 cm.

Legrix de Tustal Collection. Purchased by the city of Bordeaux from M. Duclos in 1850.

This scene was based on a passage in the Tales of the Arabian Nights , translated by Galland in 1704. Like Watteau's Persians or Montesquieu's Persian Letters, it illustrates the prevailing fascination for Oriental subjects.

Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. BX 431; BXM 5895).

Brenet Nicolas Guy

Paris, 1728; Paris, 1792.

Academician, history painter, particularly national.

Caius Furius Cresimus Accused of Sorcery.

Oil on canvas; 324 cm x 326 cm.

Signed, dated: Brenet 1777 (bottom right)

Commissioned circa 1776 by the Count of Angiviller, the Administrator of Royal Residences. Louis XVI Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State. Sent to the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse in 1873.

A previous version of the same scene was painted for Abbot Terray and exhibited at the 1775 Salon under the ndeg. 28 (Abbot Terray sale, 20 January 1779, ndeg. 7).

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "Caius Furius Cresimus, summoned before the Aedile to clear himself of a charge of using magic to produce such an abundance of crops in his small field, displayed his farm tools in good condition, his wife, daughter and healthy fat oxen; then, addressing the assembled people, shouted, "Oh Romans, here is my sorcery! But what I am unable to bring with me and show in public are my pains, my efforts and my lack of sleep. (Pliny. Hist. Nat. Bk. 18 Ch. 6)." This episode is in fact described in Chapter 41 of Book XVIII.

Toulouse, Musée des Augustins (inv. RO 35, D. 1873. 4).

Chardin Jean Siméon

Paris, 1699; Paris, 1779.

Academician, specialising in still-life and genre-scene figures.

The Ray.

Oil on canvas; 114.5 cm x 146 cm.

Admission piece to the Academy (1728). Exhibited Place Dauphine in Paris in 1728. Academy Collection. Confiscated under the Revolution. Assigned to the Louvre in 1851.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 3197).

Collin de Vermont Hyacinthe

Versailles, 1693; Paris, 1761.

Academician, history painter.

Summer (Sheaf and Plough).

Oil on canvas; 88.5 cm x 129.5 cm.

Signed, dated: Colin de Vermont 1742 (centre right).

Canon Carrey Collection, Rouen. Confiscated under the Revolution c. 1789.

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. SR 73).

Coypel Antoine

Paris, 1661; Paris, 1772.

Academician, director of the Academy, First Painter to the King and skilful decorator, strongly influenced by the theatre, he was primarily a history painter.

Aeneas' Descent into Hell.

Oil on canvas; 385 cm x 752 cm. Painting extremely damaged.

The central piece of the Aeneas Gallery, painted circa 1616-17 for the regent Philip of Orléans. Removed circa 1778 at the time of the gallery's demolition. Acquired by the king with the Château of Saint-Cloud in 1785. Confiscated under the Revolution. Formerly attributed to Charles Coypel. Numerous preparatory drawings in the Louvre.

Inverted engraving by Louis Surugue circa 1740.

The scene is borrowed from Virgil's Aeneid (Bk. VI, 637-891): "... they [Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl] reached the realms of joy, the verdant delights of the groves of bliss, and the halls of the blessed [the Elysian Fields]. Here a fuller air bathes the plains in a crimson light. The shades behold a sun and stars that shine for them alone. Some of these spirits exercise in the grassy wrestling-ring, measuring their strength in sport, or throw each other on the saffron sand; others chant songs or beat out choric rhythms with their feet [...] he [Anchises] led both his son and the Sibyl into the midst of the chattering throng, and stood on a mound from which the hero could scan the whole of that long line [of shades] and recognise each passing face."

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 3546).

Coypel Charles Antoine

Paris, 1694; Paris, 1752.

Academician, director of the Academy, history painter and portraitist, he was very much influenced by the theatre.

Armida Fainting on Rinaldo's Departure.

Oil on canvas; 307 cm x 410 cm.

Signed, dated: C. Coypel 1735 (bottom left).

Tapestry cartoon commissioned for the Gobelins factory for the Tapestry of Operatic Episodes series. Woven as a tapestry in 1771. Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection.

The scene was inspired by canto XVI (LIX) of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered : "suffocated by pain, she was unable to complete her last words. She fell to the ground half dead; an icy sweat enveloped her; her eyes closed."

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 3539).

Danloux Henri Pierre

Paris, 1753; Paris, 1809.

Portraitist, genre-scene and history painter.

Jean François de La Marche.

Oil on canvas; 223 cm x 182 cm.

Painted in 1793. Reproduced in engravings. Exhibited at the 1814 Salon under the title Portrait of the Late Lord Bishop of Saint-Pol-de-Léon. Gift of Ernest May to the French State in 1920.

The Bishop of Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Count Jean François de La Marche (1729-1805) had emigrated to England in 1791.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 2270).

David Louis

Paris, 1748; Brussels, 1825.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, parliamentary representative in the National Convention, he became First Painter to the Emperor.

The Oath of the Horatii.

Oil on canvas; 330 cm x 425 cm.

Signed, situated, dated: L. David/faciebat/Romae/anno MDCCLXXXIV.

Commissioned by the Administrator of Royal Residences in 1784. Exhibited at the 1785 Salon under the title The Oath of the Horatii, between their Father's Hands. Louis XVI Collection. Crown Collection. Exhibited at the 1791 Salon. Property of the French State. The painting has been frequently reproduced in engravings.

A painted study is also on view at the Louvre (inv. RF 47). A large number of pencil studies also exist.

The subject heralded the examples of virtue and patriotism dear to the Revolution.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 3692).

De Machy or Demachy Pierre Antoine

Paris, 1723; Paris, 1807.

Academician, specialising in architectural landscapes.

Imaginary View of a Parisian Furniture Repository.

Oil on canvas; 87 cm x 113 cm.

Manner and date of acquisition unknown.

Depicted in the background are the buildings erected by the king's architect and director of the Academy of Architecture, Jacques Ange Gabriel (1698-1782), on the Place Royale, present-day Place de la Concorde, in Paris (see the portrait of Edme Bouchardon by François-Hubert Drouais).

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 6415).

Deshayes Jean-Baptiste Henri, known as Le Romain

Colleville, 1729; Paris, 1765.

Academician and history painter.

St. Andrew Refusing to Worship Idols.

Oil on canvas; 445 cm x 215 cm.

Signed: Deshays L.R. (bottom right).

Commissioned in 1753 for the Church of Saint-André de la Porte aux Fèves in Rouen. Exhibited at the 1759 Salon (ndeg. 91). Confiscated during the Revolution in 1792. Belonged to a series of paintings also in the Rouen Musée des Beaux-Arts (inventory numbers of other works: SR 1 and SR 3).

The subject is drawn from Jacques de Voragine's Golden Legend . The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "The martyrdom of St. Andrew, when he is about to be nailed to the cross and is asked to worship idols. The painting was intended for the Church of Rouen whose patron saint is this holy apostle." According to Jacques de Voragine, it is because he taught "the dogmas of this superstitious sect [Christianity], the eradication of which had just been prescribed by the Roman emperors," and because he refused to worship idols that St. Andrew was finally crucified on order of Aegeus, proconsul of Achaea.

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. SR 2).

Desportes Alexandre François, known as Desportes the Elder

Champigneul, 1661; Paris, 1743.

Academician, portraitist, still-life and animal painter who provided models for the Gobelins tapestry factory. Worked in Poland and England.

The Wolf Hunt.

Oil on canvas; 336 cm x 332 cm.

Signed, dated: F. Desportes invent et pinxit 1725 (bottom left).

Executed in 1725 for the counsellor Glucq, cousin of Jean de Julienne. Formerly in the reception room at the Château de Virginie in Sceaux. Confiscated during the Revolution. Assigned to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, in 1819.

Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 819.1.1).

Doyen Gabriel François

Paris, 1726; St. Petersburg, 1806.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, First Painter to the Count of Artois, history painter and portraitist, he was summoned to Russia by Catherine II.

The Miracle of St. Genevieve. (Le Miracle des Ardents )

Oil on canvas; 80 cm x 50 cm.

Study for a painting for the Parisian Church of Saint-Roch (exhibited at the 1767 Salon). Purchased by the French State from Mademoiselle Buon in 1891. Reproduced in engravings.

An epidemic of plague, known as the "sacred fire" or the mal des ardents, swept through Paris in 1130. It was warded off thanks to a relic of the patron saint of Paris, St. Genevieve, preserved in the church of Sainte-Geneviève-la-Petite, later renamed Sainte-Geneviève-des-Ardents. Demolished in 1747, this church was situated on the present-day site of the parvis of Notre-Dame.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 653).

Drolling Martin

Oberbergheim, 1752; Paris, 1817.

Genre-scene painter who worked for the Sèvres porcelain factory.

Woman with a Mouse.

Oil on wood; 25 cm x 35 cm.

Signed: Drolling (bottom left).

Painted around 1798. Gift of M. Miron-Lamotte to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans, between 1830 and 1840.

A companion piece can also be found in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Orléans (inv. 384). Other works by Drolling depicting kitchen interiors were exhibited at the 1793 (ndeg. 41), 1806 and 1817 Salons.

The same young peasant woman is apparently featured in a painting identical in size calledThe Little Milkmaid , now at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Strasbourg.

Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 383).

Drouais François Hubert

Paris, 1727; Paris, 1775.

Academician and portraitist at the court of France.

Edme Bouchardon.

Oil on canvas; 129 cm x 97 cm.

Signed, dated: Drouais le fils1758.

Admission piece to the Royal Academy of Painting in 1758. Exhibited at the 1759 Salon under the title Portrait of M. Bouchardon, Sculptor to the King . Reproduced in engravings. Academy Collection. Confiscated during the Revolution. Assigned to the Louvre.

Bouchardon (1698-1762) is portrayed in front of one of his works, Cupid Making a Bow from the Mace of Hercules (Musée du Louvre) and the model of an equestrian statue of Louis XV intended to grace the present-day Place de la Concorde in Paris (see De Machy's Imaginary View of a Parisian Furniture Repository ).

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 4108).

Drouais Jean-Germain

Paris, 1763; Rome, 1788.

Winner of the Rome Prize, history painter and son of François Hubert Drouais.

Jesus Driving the Merchants out of the Temple.

Oil on canvas; 38 cm x 46.5 cm.

This study, painted between 1784 and 1788, was formerly attributed to the 18th-century French School. Purchased by the city of Rennes from the Fischer-Kiener Gallery in 1986.

The painting's sources are from:

- The Gospel according to St. Matthew (Ch. 21): "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves ."

- The Gospel according to St. Mark (Ch.11): "and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves."

- The Gospel according to St. Luke (Ch.19):"And he went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

- The Gospel according to St. John (Ch.2): "And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting; And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise."

Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 86.3.1).

Ducreux Joseph

Nancy, 1735; Paris, 1802.

Pastellist, miniaturist, First Painter to Queen Marie-Antoinette, he travelled to London and Vienna.

Louis-Antoine, Count of Bougainville.

Oil on canvas; 88 cm x 71 cm.

Executed in 1790. Apocryphal signature.

Purchased by the French State at the Vitu sale, 4 December 1891 (ndeg. 405).

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811), mathematician, lawyer and navigator, first accompanied Montcalm to Canada.When peace was signed in 1763, he set off to found a colony on the Falkland Islands, which France sold to Spain three years later. Between 1766 and 1769, he led a scientific expedition around the world and published an account of his Journey Around the World in 1771. He was also involved in the American War of Independence. "As far as I can judge from a rather superficial reading, there are three advantages to be gained: a better knowledge of our old homeland and its inhabitants; greater safety on the seas he has roamed with sounding line in hand, and greater accuracy in our geographical maps. Bougainville left with the necessary enlightenment and the right qualities for these purposes: philosophy, courage, truth; a glance prompt enough to grasp a situation and shorten the time of observation; circumspection, patience; the desire to see, to understand and to learn; a knowledge of mathematics, mechanics, geometry, astronomy; and a sufficient smattering of natural history." Diderot, Supplement to Bougainville's Journey , 1772.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 6412, RF 698).

Dumont Jacques, known as Le Romain

Paris, 1701; Paris, 1781.

Academician, professor, rector, chancellor of the Academy, painter of popular and historical scenes.

Glaucus and Scylla.

Oil on canvas; 133 cm x 113.5 cm.

Painted circa 1726. Engraved by Louis Surugue. Sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 9 July 1961 (ndeg. 17). Sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 10 June 1971 (ndeg. 122). Sale, Paris, Marcus Gallery, 11 December 1981. Purchased in 1981 by the Society of Friends of the Museums of Troyes, with the help of the Crédit du Nord and a public appeal fund.

A copy of this painting remains in the La Hyre Collection, while another was sold at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris in 1986.

The scene is drawn from Ovid's Metamorphoses (XIII, 898-968): "...the group of Nereides broke up; they swam away into the calm waters [...] she [Scylla] reached the top of a hill near the shore [...] Glaucus appeared [...] not knowing whether he was a monster or a god, she gazed at him, surprised at his colour, at his hair falling over his shoulders and down his back; she was astonished to see the lower half of his body disappear into a coiled fish-tail..." Glaucus then relates to Scylla how he was changed from a fisherman into a sea-monster.

Troyes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 81.10).

Duplessis Joseph Siffred

Carpentras, 1725; Versailles, 1802.

Academician, he had a great following as a portraitist at the French court.

Portrait of the Count of Angiviller.

Oil on canvas; 47 cm x 39 cm.

Study painted for the portrait today found at the Musée de Versailles, and exhibited at the 1779 Salon under the title Portrait de M. le Comte d'Angiviller, Directeur et Ordonnateur général des Bâtimens . Donation subject to usufruct by the Duke of Aumale to the French Institute in 1886 (actual entry in 1897, no loans or deposits permitted).

Another portrait of Angiviller may be found in Noranger Castle (Denmark).

Charles Claude de Flahaut de La Billarderie, Count of Angiviller (1730-1809) was steward in charge of the royal botanical gardens before becoming, in 1774, after Marigny's resignation, the Chief Administrator of Royal Residences, a post he held until the fall of the monarchy. He is seen here wearing the insignia of the Orders of Saint-Louis, of Saint-Maurice and Lazare and of Saint-Lazare-de-Jérusalem.

Chantilly, Musée Condé (inv. ndeg. 389).

Eisen François

Brussels, 1695; Paris; 1778.

Genre-scene painter.

The Swing.

Oil on canvas; 46 cm x 37 cm.

Signed, dated: F. Eisen Père 1770 (bottom left).

Gift of Madame Lorin to the city of Bourg-en-Bresse in 1853.

Bourg-en-Bresse, Musée de Brou (inv. 853.86).

Fabre François Xavier Baron

Montpellier, 1766; Montpellier, 1837.

Winner of the Rome Prize, he made his career in Florence.

The Martyrdom of St. Peter.

Oil on canvas; 315 cm x 191 cm.

Commissioned by Louis XVI. Copy of a painting by Guido Reni executed for St. Peter's, Rome, currently held in the Vatican art gallery.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 20541).

Fragonard Jean Honoré

Grasse, 1732; Paris, 1806.

Winner of the Rome Prize, admitted to the Academy, he turned his back on the latter and history painting to concentrate on a more lighthearted style destined for connoisseurs' collections. During the Revolution, he was a member of the Conservatoire and Museum Commission.

Portrait of Denis Diderot.

Oil on canvas; 81.5 cm x 65 cm.

Executed shortly before 1769. Hippolyte Walferdin sale, 3 April 1880 (ndeg. 10). Baron de Beurnonville sale, 9-16 May 1881 (ndeg. 61). Count Daupias sale, 16-17 May 1892 (ndeg. 17). Léopold Goldschmidt Collection. Count André Pastré Collection between 1902 and 1931. Countess Charles de Vogüe Collection in 1934. Dation to the French State in 1972.

Philosopher and man of letters, Denis Diderot (1713-1784) took a vivid interest in the arts, as may be seen from his critical reviews of the Salons published between 1759 and 1781.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 1972 14).

Galloche Louis

Paris, 1670; Paris, 1761.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, rector and chancellor of the Academy, occasional portraitist and history painter specialised in religious scenes.

Orlando Learning of the Love of Angelica and Medoro.

Oil on canvas; 75.7 cm x 118 cm.

Signed, dated: Galloche p. 1733 (bottom centre on a tree trunk). Annotated: Angélique engage son coeur Médor en est vainqueur (in the centre). The same phrase is partially reproduced on the tree trunks to the left.

Commissioned in 1732 for the queen's wardrobe room at the Château of Versailles. Crown Collection. Paris, Superintendence (1792). Paris, Museum Central des Arts (1795). Assigned to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen, in 1802.

The scene is borrowed from Canto XXXIII of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso : "Looking around him, he [Orlando] saw inscriptions carved on most of the trees shading the bank from the sun. On taking a closer glance, he recognised the handwriting of his goddess [...] He saw the names of Angelica and Medoro intertwined in a hundred love knots and in over a hundred places. Each letter that formed these names was like a nail Eros used to pierce him and rend his heart..."

Caen, Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Gamelin Jacques

Carcassonne, 1738; Carcassonne, 1803.

Painter to Pope Clement XIV in Rome, associated member of the Royal Academy of Toulouse, history painter and portraitist.

The Punishment of a Vestal Virgin.

Oil on canvas; 32 cm x 48 cm.

Gift of Dr. Alexis Moreau to the city of Orléans in 1879.

The theme of the Vestal virgins was quite unusual at this time, but often treated by this artist: Offering on the Altar of Vesta of 1776, now in a private collection in Béziers, Vestals Keeping the Sacred Fire Burning exhibited at the Hahn Gallery in Paris in May 1979 (ndeg. 6 and ndeg. 7), Fire in the Temple of Vesta , a pen drawing in a private collection in Béziers and another drawing illustrating the punishment of a Vestal virgin exhibited in Carcassonne in 1938 (ndeg. 123).

A companion piece, dated 1798, Andromaque Mourning over the Ashes of Hector, can also be seen at the Orléans museum.

Priestesses of the Roman goddess Vesta, who presided over every domestic fire, the Vestals took vows of absolute chastity; those who broke their vows were punished by death. This scene is drawn from The Story of the Vestals and Treatise on the Luxury of Roman Women written by Abbot Augustin Nadal (1659-1740) and published in 1725.

Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 447).

Gauffrier Louis

Poitiers, 1762; Livourne, 1801.

Winner of the Rome Prize, admitted to the Academy, he made his career in Rome. He was a history, landscape and portrait painter.

Romulus and Remus.

Oil on canvas; 111.5 cm x 142 cm.

Manner and date of acquisition unknown.

The scene is partly inspired by the account of Romulus' life in Plutarch's Lives of Famous Men : "She gave birth to twin brothers of exceptional size and beauty. Amulius was even more alarmed and ordered a servant to drown them. He is said to have been called Faustulus; others say that was the name of he who found them [...] Unknown to everyone, Faustulus, Amulius' shepherd, sheltered and brought up the children."

Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Gérard François Baron

Rome, 1770; Paris, 1837.

He was the official portraitist to the imperial family, ambassadors of the empire and foreign heads of state.

Jean-Baptiste Isabey and his Daughter as a Child.

Oil on canvas; 194.5 cm x 130 cm.

Signed, dated: F. Gérard 1795 .

Exhibited at the 1796 Salon. Gift of the painter Eugène Isabey, son of the sitter, to the French State in 1852.

This work was painted to thank the miniaturist Isabey (1767-1855) for the sale of Gérard's Belisarius Carrying his Guide after he was Bitten by a Snake , exhibited at the 1795 Salon. Isabey's daughter would later marry the painter Pierre Luc Charles Cicéri (1782-1868).

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 4764).

Gérard Marguerite

Grasse, 1761; Paris, 1837.

Sister-in-law of J.H. Fragonard, she was a portrait and genre-scene painter.

Bad News.

Oil on canvas; 63.5 cm x 50.5 cm.

Exhibited at the 1804 Salon. Assigned to the French State by the Office des Biens privés in 1950.

The subject, rather than the technique, is a perfect illustration of the artist's pre-Romanticism. Women fainting was a recurrent theme in literature of the period: "this morning's conversation had deeply upset me... my head and my heart ached... I felt myself growing faint... would Heaven take pity on me? ... I could no longer stand up..." Letter XII from Julie d'Etange in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's La Nouvelle Héloïse .

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. MNR 140).

Girodet de Roucy-Trioson Anne Louis

Montargis, 1767; Paris, 1824.

Winner of the Rome Prize, he was one of the figures linking neoclassicism and Romanticism.

Endymion Sleeping.

Oil on canvas; 49 cm x 62 cm.

Executed in Rome in 1790-91. Exhibited at the 1793 and 1814 Salons. Louis XVIII Collection. Purchased by the French State in 1818. Reproduced in engravings.

A study (?) for this painting also exists at the Louvre (inv. RF 2152).

In Greek mythology, Selene, the moon goddess, fell in love with Endymion when she caught a glimpse of him sleeping. At Selene's request, Zeus granted Endymion's wish for everlasting youth, on condition that he remained eternally asleep.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 4935).

Greuze Jean-Baptiste

Tournus, 1725; Paris, 1805.

Painter of occasionally ambiguous didactic scenes and portraitist, he was admitted to the Academy as a genre-scene painter.

The Paternal Curse. The Ungrateful Son.

Oil on canvas; 130 cm x 162 cm.

Executed circa1777. Reproduced in engravings in 1778. Marquis de Veri sale in 1785. Laneuville sale in 1813. Purchased by the French State from M. de Villeserre in 1820. Companion piece to The Punished Son , also in the Louvre (inv. 5039).

"However much he may have helped his aged father, his mother and brothers, the eldest son of the house enlisted in the army; but he was not going to leave without asking these unhappy people for help. He comes with an old soldier; he makes his request. His father is outraged; he has no kind words for this negligent son, who no longer cares about his father, mother or filial duties, and who answers the old man's reproaches with insults..." Diderot.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 5038).

Gros Antoine-Jean Baron

Paris, 1771; Paris, 1835.

Painter of battle scenes and portraits of imperial dignitaries, he was one of the figures linking the eighteenth century and Romanticism.

General Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcola.

Oil on canvas; 130 cm x 94 cm.

Executed in Milan in 1796. Exhibited at the 1801 Salon. First Consul Collection. Napoléon III Collection. Empress Eugénie Collection. Gift to the French State in 1879.

Prepartory sketch also in the Louvre (inv. RF 361). Reproduced in engravings.

Generals Bonaparte and Augereau took the bridge at Arcola, a town in Italy, on 15 November 1796 and defeated the Austrian army two days later.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 6314, RF 271).

Guérin Pierre-Narcisse Baron

Paris, 1774; Rome, 1833.

Member of the Institute, director of the French Academy in Rome and history painter.

The Return of Marcus Sextus.

Oil on canvas; 217 cm x 243 cm.

Signed, dated: Guérin ft an 7 (1799, bottom left).

Exhibited at the 1799 Salon. Reproduced in engravings. Charles X Collection. Decretot Collection. Exhibition in aid of the Greeks, Paris, 1826. Purchased by the French State from M. Coutan in 1830.

The imaginary Roman Marcus Sextus, who escaped from Sulla's proscriptions, "returned to find his daughter weeping over her dead mother." The painting met with great success, partly due to its subject, which was interpreted as an allusion to the return of the émigrés.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 5180).

Hallé Noël

Paris, 1711; Paris, 1781.

Academician, inspector-in-chief of the Gobelins factory, director of the French Academy in Rome, rector of the Academy and history painter.

The Magistrates of the City of Paris Receiving the News of Peace in 1763.

Oil on canvas; 324 cm x 457 cm.

Signed, dated: Hallé 1767 .

Commissioned for the Parisian town hall. Exhibited at the 1767 Salon. Manner and date of acquisition unknown.

A study exists in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.

The Treaty of Paris was signed on 10 February 1763 by France, England and Portugal, putting an end to the Seven Years' War. With this treaty France surrendered its Canadian and North American colonies to England. The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "An allegorical painting about the latest peace. / Minerva announces peace to the city of Paris, and leads the goddess who is scattering flowers from the horn of plenty she is holding over the spirits of Science and the Arts and their attributes."

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 7536, inv. 5278, B 647).

Hennequin Philippe Auguste

Lyons, 1762; Leuze-près-Tournay, 1833.

History painter and director of the Academy of Drawing in Tournai.

The Battle of Quiberon.

Oil on canvas; 391 cm x 708 cm.

Commissioned and purchased by the French State in 1804. Exhibited at the 1804 Salon (ndeg. 228). Assigned to the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse in 1812.

A study for this painting can be found in the Musée Dobrée in Nantes.

This battle took place in July 1795; at the head of the republican army, Hoche repelled a disembarkation attempt by royalist émigrés led by Charles Virot de Sombreuil, Hervilly and Joseph de Puisaye and helped by the British fleet. More than seven hundred émigrés were taken prisoner and shot at the end of the battle. The long description of this painting in the Salon handbook seems like pure anti-English propaganda, prior to the continental blockade: "Everybody understood the reason for this Anglican expedition, the perversity behind it and the dreadful treason which left in its wake an everlasting seal of opprobrium for the British cabinet [...] In this expedition, England's sole objective was to see Frenchmen cutting Frenchmen's throats..."

Toulouse, Musée des Augustins (inv. RO 121. D.1812.12).

Houel Jean

Rouen, 1735; Paris, 1813.

Realist landscape artist, he made extremely precise drawings of architectural sites in Italy.

Cellar Used to Store Salt in Dieppedalle.

Oil on canvas; 65 cm x 97.1 cm.

Executed circa 1789. Gift of the artist to the city of Rouen in 1808.

The scene takes place in Dieppedalle-Croisset, on the outskirts of Rouen.

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (808.1.2).

Huet Jean-Baptiste

Paris, 1745; Paris, 1811.

Academician, he supplied models for the Beauvais and Jouy factories.

Rustic Attributes.

Oil on canvas; 67.5 cm x 62.5 cm (oval).

Signed, dated: B. Huet 1777 (centre right).

Purchased by the city of Lyons in 1893.

This painting is an example of the pastoral manner that neoclassicism would oppose.

Lyons, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. B 499).

Julien Simon

Toulon, 1735; Paris, circa 1800.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician and history painter.

Tithonus and Aurora.

Oil on canvas; 277 cm x 198 cm.

Study for his Academy admission piece in 1783. Exhibited at the 1800 Salon. Purchased by the city of Caen from M. Munin in 1823. Falsely attributed to Joseph-Marie Vien in 1837.

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "Tithonus and Aurora when the goddess leaves her husband's arms to begin her flower-strewn race across the sky." In Greek mythology, Tithonus was carried off by Aurora and was granted immortality by Zeus. However, he had forgotten to ask for eternal youth and soon became so decrepit that he was kept in a basket, like a baby. Aurora finally transformed him into a grasshopper.

Caen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 2).

King Samuel

Late 18th-century American School.

Portrait of George Washington Dressed as an American General.

Oil on canvas; 57 cm x 42 cm.

Signed: S. King pt (bottom left).

Gift of Anne Murray-Dike to the French State before 1928.

George Washington (1732-1799) played an active part in the American War of Independence. He gave his country a constitution before becoming its first president.

Blérancourt, Musée National de la Coopération Franco-Américaine (inv. CFA A 17).

Labille-Guiard Adélaïde

Paris, 1749; Paris, 1803.

Academician, painter and pastellist, she was the official portraitist of Louis XV's sisters.

The Painter François-André Vincent.

Oil on canvas; 73 cm x 59 cm.

Boitelle sale, 13 March 1891 (ndeg. 35). Gift of Georges Decaux to the French State in 1905.

Son of the Genevan miniaturist François Elie Vincent (1708-1790), François André Vincent (1746-1816), the artist's second husband, was one of the forerunners of neoclassicism. He was the leader of a school before being dethroned by David.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 1575).

Lacour senior, Pierre

Bordeaux, 1745; Bordeaux, 1814.

Pupil of Vien, trained in Rome, he made his career in Bordeaux, where he was director of the Academy and School of Drawing.

Cleopatra Mourning at the Tomb of Mark Antony

Oil on canvas; 179 cm x 137 cm.

Signed, dated: P. Lacour 1781 (top right on the tomb).

Commissioned circa 1774 by M. Saige, together with seven other scenes from the Bible and ancient history, for the galleries in his private mansion (today the Bordeaux police headquarters). Exhibited at the 1782 Salon in the Bordeaux Stock Exchange gallery. Recuperated by Lacour in 1794. Lacour junior sale, Bordeaux, 1859 (ndeg. 87). Pillot Collection. Purchased by the city of Bordeaux in 1973.

The subject is drawn from Plutarch's Lives of Famous Men (CVII): "She [Cleopatra] asked Caesar if he would allow her to offer the last funerary oblations for Antony's soul; her request being granted, she had herself carried to the tomb..." Lacour added another anecdote taken from a previous episode related by Pliny in his Historia Naturalis (IX, 58). Cleopatra possessed "the two largest pearls that had ever existed." During a banquet in Mark Antony's honour, the Queen of Egypt "ordered a cup of strong acid vinegar, took off one of her pearls, dropped it in the liquid and when it had dissolved, swallowed it."

Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. BX 1973.12.2).

Lacroix Charles François de, known as La Croix de Marseille

Marseilles, circa 1720; Berlin, 1782.

Trained in Rome and Naples, he painted in the tradition of Joseph Vernet; although much appreciated by his contemporaries, he was not admitted to the Academy.

Storm over Rome, otherwise known as Seascape.

Oil on canvas; 123 cm x 173 cm.

E.Th. Selot Collection. Purchased by the city of Rouen from A.N. Dupuis de Roubemare in 1808. Attributed to Joseph Vernet in 1818.

Companion piece to a painting also found in the Musée de Rouen (inv. 808.4).

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 808.3).

Lagrenée Louis, known as the Elder

Paris, 1725; Paris, 1805.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, director of the St. Petersburg Academy, then the French Academy in Rome, he specialised in historical scenes or scenes from Antiquity.

Horatius after Striking his Sister.

Oil on canvas; 95 cm x 134 cm.

Study executed in Rome between 1750 and 1754. Lagrenée sale, 1814 (ndeg. 20). Purchased by the city of Rouen at the Lecoupeur sale, Rouen, 1867.

The companion piece, A War Offering Made the Day Before Battle by the Samnites who Swore to Sacrifice Themselves for their Homeland , may be found in the Musée de Bourges.

The episode depicted is taken from Livy's History of Rome (Bk. 1, XXVI): After defeating the Curiatii, the last of the three Horatii brothers meets his sister, who had been betrothed to one of the dead champions. The young woman is "in tears [...] The proud young man is overcome by anger at his sister's lamentations amid the crowd's transports of joy celebrating his victory. He draws his sword and as he strikes the young woman, he showers her with reproach: "Take your scandalous love away! Go and join your fiancé [...] you who have forgotten your homeland! So dies any Roman woman who would mourn an enemy."

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 867.4).

Lallemand Jean-Baptiste

Dijon, 1716; Paris, circa 1803.

Specialising in architectural views, he was one of the first to take an interest in medieval buildings.

The Tomb of Agrippa and the Pyramid, otherwise known as Landscape with Ruins and Figures.

Oil on canvas; 61 cm x 48.9 cm.

Manner and date of acquisition unknown. Falsely attributed to Giovanni Paolo Pannini by Chennevières in 1844; rectified in 1928.

A view of Rome with Agrippa's tomb and Cestius' pyramid, two of neoclassical landscape painters' favourite elements.

Caen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 237).

Lancret Nicolas

Paris, 1690; Paris, 1743.

Academician, influenced by Watteau, he specialised in fête galante scenes.

Winter.

Oil on canvas; 69 cm x 89 cm.

From the king's cabinet at the Château de La Muette. Exhibited at the 1738 Salon. Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State. Reproduced in engravings.

One of a series of four paintings depicting the seasons, all in the Louvre (other works: inv. 5597-5599).

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 5600).

Largillière Nicolas de

Paris, 1656; Paris, 1746.

Trained in Antwerp and London, academician and favourite high-society portraitist.

Family Portrait, formerly known as The Painter with his Wife and Daughter.

Oil on canvas; 149 cm x 200 cm.

Dr. Louis La Caze Bequest to the French State in 1869.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. MI 1085).

Le Barbier Jean Jacques François

Rouen, 1738; Paris, 1826.

History painter, member of the Rouen Academy of Science, Literature and Fine Arts, he was also an illustrator.

Henry IV and Sully at Fontainebleau.

Oil on canvas; 327 cm x 240 cm.

Signed, dated: Le Barbier pinxit 1783 .

Tapestry cartoon commissioned by Louis XVI for the Gobelins factory for the Story of Henry IV series. Exhibited at the 1783 Salon. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "The subject is familiar after the piece depicting Henry IV's hunting party; the author set the scene in the gallery at Fontainebleau, but the episode actually took place outside at Fontainebleau along what was formerly known as the white mulberry walk.

Sully himself related how, on entering the King's bedchamber, the sovereign said impatiently to Beringhem: 'The weather isn't good; I don't want to go riding, take off my boots.' He then went down to the Queen's Garden, followed the path to the kennels, summoned Sully, who had taken his leave of him, and said, 'Come here, haven't you anything to say to me?' He then took me by the hand, said Sully, and leading me down the Mulberry Walk, he had two Swiss guards who did not understand French put at the entrance... I wanted to embrace his knees, but he would not let me, so that any courtier who may have seen this posture from afar would not think I had made such a gesture to obtain forgiveness for a real crime... At the end of this scene, the King took back the papers that had led to this discussion."

Pau, Musée National du Château (inv. MV 6929, inv. 2414, MR 1905).

Lemoyne François

Paris, 1688; Paris, 1737.

Academician, Academy professor, First Painter to the King and history painter.

Study for the Hercules Ceiling.

Oil on canvas; 149 cm x 122 cm.

Study for the ceiling executed between 1733 and 1736 in the Hercules Room, at Versailles. Property of the French State.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 6277, inv. 6713, MR 1983).

Lenfant Pierre

Anet, 1704; Paris, 1787.

Academician and specialist in battle scenes.

The Battle of Fontenoy.

Oil on canvas; 391 cm x 279 cm.

Signed: P. Lenfant .

Originally in the War Ministry at Versailles. Exhibited at the 1757 Salon. Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

A preparatory drawing can be found at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris.

Part of a group of paintings also at Versailles (inv. MV 182, MV 187, MV 197, MV 204, MV 210, MV 212).

A replica belonging to the Count of Argenson is preserved in the Château des Ormes.

Louis XV, Louis de Bourbon and Count Maurice of Saxony were present at the Battle of Fontenoy, a town in the Belgian province of Hainaut. During this episode in the Austrian War of Succession, the French army challenged the troops of the Anglo-Dutch coalition on 11 May 1745.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 188, inv. 6186, MR 2000).

Lépicié Nicolas Bernard

Paris, 1735; Paris, 1784.

Genre-scene, portrait and history painter.

Achilles is Instructed in Music by the Centaur Chiron.

Oil on canvas; 142 cm x 195 cm.

Academy admission piece. Exhibited at the 1769 Salon (ndeg. 124). Academy Collection (?). Confiscated during the Revolution (?). At the Château of Vincennes in 1869. Left in deposit at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Troyes, in 1896.

In Greek mythology, the centaur Chiron, who was skilled in the arts of music, war, hunting, ethics and medicine, had advised the mortal Peleus how to make the goddess Thetis marry him. The child born from this union, Ligyron, was brought up by Chiron and renamed Achilles.

Troyes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. D. 896. 1).

Le Prince Jean-Baptiste

Metz, 1734; Saint-Denis-du-Port, 1781.

A great traveller (Finland, Lithuania, Russia, Siberia), he introduced Russian subjects into France.

A Russian Baptism.

Oil on canvas; 73 cm x 92 cm.

Signed, dated: Jean-Baptiste Le Prince 1765 (bottom left).

Academy admission piece in 1765. Exhibited at the 1765 (?) Salon. Academy Collection. Confiscated under the Revolution. Assigned to the Louvre. Reproduced in engravings.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 7331).

Loutherbourg Philippe Jacques de

Strasbourg, 1740; Chiswick, 1812.

Academician in both Paris and London, he was a painter of landscapes, battle and genre scenes.

A Broken Bridge.

Oil on canvas; 226 cm x 282 cm.

Laborde Collection (?). Countess du Barry Collection (?). Crown Collection (?). Confiscated under the Revolution. Paris, Museum Central des Arts. Assigned to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes (appeared on the 1801 inventory).

Part of a series of paintings also at the Rennes Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 801.1.7, 801.1.9 and 801.1.10).

Formerly attributed to François Joseph Casanova. Similar to a watercolour by François Joseph Casanova, The Fallen Bridge , in a sale at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, in 1950 (ndeg. 641 of L'Annuaire du collectionneur, 1949-50).

"Loutherbourg's landscapes do not have Vernet's subtlety of tone; but his effects are decisive; he uses impasto." Diderot.

Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 801.1.8).

Martin Pierre Denis, known as Martin the Younger or Martin of the Gobelins

Paris, circa 1663; Paris, 1742.

Employed at the Gobelins tapestry factory, he was primarily known for his views of royal residences.

View of the Château de La Muette.

Oil on canvas; 95 cm x 139 cm.

Commissioned in 1772 by Louix XV for the Château of Versailles. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

Louis XV, the regent Philip of Orléans and the Duke of Bourbon are all portrayed in this work.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 742, inv. 6532, MR 778).

Ménageot François Guillaume

London, 1744; Paris, 1816.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, director of the French Academy in Rome, member of the Institute, he drew his subjects from French history.

Allegory of the Birth of the Dauphin, the 22nd October 1781.

Oil on canvas; 98 cm x 130 cm.

Signed, dated: F.Ménageot.1783.

Study for a work commissioned by the town hall of Paris in 1783, which was exhibited at the Salon the same year (ndeg. 30) under the title Allegorical Painting, Commissioned by the City of Paris, to Celebrate the Birth of His Royal Highness THE DAUPHIN and destroyed at the time of the Revolution. Grouvelle Bequest to the French State in 1895.

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "France can be seen holding His Royal Highness the new-born Dauphin in her arms; Wisdom precedes him, while Health supports him: in his retinue are Justice, Peace and Abundance. On a perron in the foreground, the town aldermen welcome His Royal Highness the Dauphin and thank Heaven for the gift France has received. On the opposite side, the eager crowd expresses the people's joy and happiness. In the background, the pyramid of immortality is decorated with portraits of the King and Queen. At the top of this monument, Victory inscribes the date of the Prince's birth, making an allusion to the capture of Yorktown, the news of which arrived the same day as the Queen gave birth."

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 6766, RF 918).

Moreau Louis Gabriel, known as Moreau the Elder

Paris, 1740; Paris, 1806.

Landscape artist, painter to the Count of Artois, but not an academician.

View of the Bellevue Hillside from the Park at Saint-Cloud.

Oil on canvas; 56 cm x 81 cm.

Purchased at the Etienne Arago sale on 4 May 1892 (ndeg. 18).

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 719).

Natoire Charles Joseph

Nîmes, 1700; Castelgandolfo, 1777.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, director of the French Academy in Rome, he executed numerous decorative cycles and tapestry models for the Gobelins and Beauvais factories.

The Siege of Bordeaux (Story of Clovis).

Oil on canvas; 266 cm x 334 cm.

Signed, dated: C. Natoire 1737 (bottom right).

One of a group commissioned by Philibert Orry for his Château de La Chapelle-Godefroy near Nogent-sur-Seine. The other works in the series are also at the Musée de Troyes (inv. 834.3, 879.1.6, 879.1.7, 879.1.9, 879.1.48). Exhibited at the 1737 Salon under the title The Siege of Bordeaux by Clovis . Philibert Orry Collection (1737-1747). Jean Henri Louis Orry de Fulvy Collection (1747-1751). Philibert Louis Orry de Fulvy Collection (1751-1760). Bouret de Valroche Collection (1760-1761). Jean de Boullongne Collection (1767). Jean Nicolas de Boullongne Collection (1767-1787). Paul Esprit Charles de Boullongne Collection. Confiscated under the Revolution in 1793. Troyes, Notre-Dame-aux-Nonnains Abbey. Assigned to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Troyes, in 1879.

Preparatory drawings in the Amsterdam Museum and in private collections.

An episode from the conquest of Aquitaine, at that time a Visigoth kingdom, by Clovis I, King of the Franks. This representation bore witness to a revival of interest in national history and was inspired by a passage from a heroic poem in twenty-six cantos, Clovis or Christian France, written by academician Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1595-1676) and published in 1657.

Troyes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 879.1.5).

Ollivier Michel Barthélémy

Marseilles, 1712 (?); Paris, 1784.

Admitted to the Academy, he spent a large part of his life at the court of Spain.

English Tea in the Room of Four Mirrors at the Temple, with all the Court of the Prince de Conti, Listening to the Young Mozart.

Oil on canvas; 54 cm x 70 cm.

Commissioned by the Prince de Conti in 1766. Exhibited at the 1777 Salon under the title English Tea,in the Room of Four Mirrors, at the Temple, with all the Court of the Prince de Conti . Manner and date of acquisition unknown.

This painting depicts one of concerts given by the child prodigy Mozart between 1762 and 1766; accompanied by his father and sister, he visited all the courts of Europe.

Paris, Musée du Louvre.

Oudry Jean-Baptiste

Paris, 1686; Paris 1755.

Admitted to the Academy as a history painter, he then turned to still-life. He was an Academy professor, Ordinary Painter of Royal Hunts, official painter of the Beauvais factory and inspector at Gobelins. His portrait was executed by Perronneau.

A Farm.

Oil on canvas; 130 cm x 212 cm.

Signed, dated: J.B. Oudry /Peintre Ordinaire du Roy /1750 (bottom right on the curb of the well).

Commissioned by the Dauphin Louis of France to be hung above the door in his cabinet at Versailles. Exhibited at the 1751 (?) Salon. Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State. Reproduced in engravings.

Sketches of the farm may be found at the Kunsthaus in Zurich; drawings of the ducks are at the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge.

In addition to Oudry's remarkably sensitive handling of landscape, this painting demonstrates the interest taken by the aristocracy in agriculture at this time. That same year (1750), one of the Encyclopedia's contributors, agronomist Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-82), had published his Treatise on the Cultivation of the Land .

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 7044).

Pajou Jacques Augustin

Paris, 1766; Paris, 1828.

Admitted to the Academy, he was above all an exponent of history painting and portraits.

Regulus Sets Out for Carthage.

Oil; 112 cm x 151 cm.

Signed, dated: Pajou fils 1793 .

Exhibited at the 1793 Salon. Gustave Vaillant Collection. Thérèse Vaillant Collection. Mme Solvay Collection. Gift of Mme Petit-Collot to the French State in 1964.

Held hostage by the Carthaginians, the Roman consul Regulus had been given the chance to negotiate peace with Rome for Carthage in exchange for his freedom. Not only did Regulus advise Rome to continue the war, but, refusing to break his promise, he returned to Carthage where he was tortured and put to death.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 1964 5).

Parrocel Charles

Paris, 1688; Paris, 1752.

Academician and specialist in battle scenes.

Halt of the King's Mounted Grenadiers.

Oil on canvas; 219 cm x 249 cm.

Painted in 1737 for the dining room of the king's private apartments at the Château of Fontainebleau. Exhibited at the 1737 Salon under the title Advance Guard of the Cavalry . Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

Companion piece to Carle Van Loo's Halt in the Hunt , also in the Louvre (inv. 6279).

Besides the outstanding still-life in the foreground and the detail of the uniforms and equipment, this painting testifies to the organisation of a regiment on the move.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 7123).

Pater Jean-Baptiste

Valenciennes, 1695; Paris, 1736.

Admitted to the Academy as a painter of fêtes galantes , he remained on the outskirts of official circles.

The Bather.

Oil on wood; 16.5 cm x 20.5 cm.

Séguin Collection (1812). Delessert Collection (1844). Van Os sale, 1851 (ndeg. 163, attributed to Watteau). Dr. Louis La Caze Bequest to the French State in 1869. Reproduced in engravings.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. MI 1098).

Pellegrini Giovanni Antonio

Venice, 1675; Venice, 1741.

Decorator who worked for the leading European courts. He was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris.

Painting and Drawing Educating Eros.

Oil on canvas; 99 cm x 85.5 cm.

Academy admission piece, 31 December 1733. Academy Collection. Confiscated during the Revolution. Assigned to the Louvre. Engraved by Landon.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 416).

Perronneau Jean-Baptiste

Paris, 1715; Amsterdam, 1783.

Academician, pastellist and portraitist of the provincial and foreign bourgeoisie (Holland, Italy, England, Russia, Poland).

Jean-Baptiste Oudry.

Oil on canvas; 131 cm x 105 cm.

Academy admission piece in 1753. Exhibited at the 1753 Salon under the title Portrait of M. Oudry, Professor of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture . Academy Collection. Confiscated during the Revolution. Assigned to the Louvre.

Academician, official painter of the Beauvais factory and inspector at the Gobelins, Oudry (1686-1755) is portrayed in front of his easel. The silhouette of a dog sketched on the canvas Oudry is working on is a reference to his title of Ordinary Painter of Royal Hunts.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 7158).

Peyron Jean François Pierre

Aix-en-Provence, 1754; Paris, 1814.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, inspector general of the Gobelins tapestry factory, history painter and one of neoclassicism's major exponents.

Belisarius Receiving the Hospitality of a Peasant who had Served under Him.

Oil on canvas; 93 cm x 132 cm.

Signed, situated, dated: P. Peyron pens. du Roy f. Roma 1779 (bottom right).

François Joachim de Pierre de Bernis Collection. Confiscated during the Revolution. Assigned to the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, in 1793.

A drawing on blue paper with ink wash and highlights, Blind Belisarius Receiving a Peasant's Hospitality , executed in Rome in 1778, an early idea for this painting, was sold in Paris in 1816, with the artist's studio reserve. Related (?) sketch representing the blind Belisarius exhibited at the 1785 Salon (ndeg. 180).

Jean-François Marmontel (1723-1799) used the Byzantine general Belisarius (c. 500-565) as his hero in his moral and political novel published in 1767. Justinian's faithful general Belisarius, who quelled the Nika riots, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, eventually fell out of favour. This book inspired several neoclassical painters, including David. The episode depicted here comes from Chapter II of Marmontel's work. The following description appeared in the 1785 Salon handbook: "An old peasant, after having met the blind Belisarius and offered him his hospitality, brings forth his family of several women, who eagerly show the veneration in which they hold him."

Toulouse, Musée des Augustins (inv. RO 195).

Pierre Jean-Baptiste Marie

Paris, 1714; Paris, 1789.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, Academy director, First Painter to the Duke of Orléans, then to the King, he attempted to impose the supremacy of history painting.

A Hero Welcomed into Olympus, also known as The Invocation.

Oil on canvas; 72 cm x 62 cm (oval).

Signed, dated: Pierre 1765 (on the stone at the bottom, between the putti).

Study for an unexecuted (?) ceiling, probably intended for the Orléans family. Gift of M. Féral to the city of Orléans in 1877;

The hero is welcomed by Juno, Jupiter, Minerva, Diana and Neptune.

Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 710).

Prud'hon Pierre Paul

Cluny, 1758; Paris, 1823.

Winner of the Burgundy States' Prize, member of the Institute, favourite painter of the imperial family, he was one of the figures linking the eighteenth century and Romanticism.

Portrait of Saint-Just.

Oil on walnut; 50 cm x 39 cm.

Dedicated, signed, dated: A Saint-Just, P.P. Prud'hon 1793 (centre right).

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Collection. Bassuret Collection. Purchased by the city of Lyons from Mme Nodet in 1955.

Engraved by Hotelin. A copy of this painting can be seen at the Musée National de la Coopération Franco-Américaine at Blérancourt.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (1767-1794), parliamentary representative for Aisne, member of the political group La Montagne and the comité de salut public (responsible for the Second Wave of Terror) alongside Robespierre and Couthon, president of the Convention, was arrested and guillotined with Robespierre.

Lyons, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 1955.2).

Raoux Jean

Montpellier, 1677; Paris, 1734.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, painter to the Prior of the Order of the Knights of Malta, he executed portraits and genre scenes.

Portrait of a Woman Dressed as Minerva.

Oil on canvas; 153 cm x 138 cm (bow-shaped upper and lower parts).

Signed, dated:J Raoux p 1730 (centre bottom)

Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 1911. Purchased by the city of Rouen from the Heim Gallery, London, in 1981.

This painting may have inspired Nattier's Portrait of Mademoiselle de Lambesc and the Comte de Brionne executed in 1732 (Musée du Louvre, inv. MI 1091).

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 981.3.1).

Regnault Jean-Baptiste Baron

Paris, 1754; Paris, 1829.

Academician and a representatives of neoclassicism.

The Origin of Painting, or Dibutade Tracing the Portrait of his Shepherd.

Oil; 105 cm x 140 cm.

Commissioned by Louis XVI in 1785 to be placed above the door in the Queen's Room of the Nobles at the Château of Versailles. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 7278, inv. 7386, MR 2364).

Restout Jean Bernard

Paris, 1732; Paris, 1797.

Academician, president of the Arts Commission during the Revolution and one of the exponents of early neoclassicism.

Diogenes Asking the Statues for Alms.

Oil on canvas; 111 cm x 144 cm.

Signed, dated: Restout fils 1765 (left).

Academy admission piece in 1767. Exhibited at the 1767 Salon (ndeg. 150). Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of Toulouse in 1770. Confiscated during the Revolution. Assigned to the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, in 1794.

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "The philosopher Diogenes lived on alms and to harden himself against the frequent refusals he encountered, he appealed to insensitive beings, such as stones, statues, etc."

Toulouse, Musée des Augustins (inv. RO 212).

Rigau y Ros Hyacinthe, known as Hyacinthe Rigaud

Perpignan, 1659; Paris, 1743.

Winner of the Rome Prize, but never went to Italy; academician, Academy director; portraitist of the French and European courts and the Parisian bourgeoisie.

The Presentation in the Temple.

Oil on wood; 83 cm x 68 cm.

Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

The scene depicted is taken from the Gospel of St. Luke (2, 22-28):

"And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord; ) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons . And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms..."

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. 7490).

Rivalz Antoine

Toulouse, 1667; Toulouse, 1735.

After a stay in Rome, he became the painter of the city of Toulouse.

The Rape of the Sabine Women.

Oil on canvas; 120 cm x 171 cm.

Gift of M. Larrieu-Estelle to the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, in 1920.

"He [Romulus] invited his neighbours to the spectacle [...] As for the Sabines, the whole people came, including women and children [...] at a given signal, the young Romans rushed from all sides to carry off the Sabine women..." Livy, History of Rome , (Bk. I, IX).

Toulouse, Musée des Augustins (inv. RO 983).

Robert Hubert

Paris, 1733; Paris, 1808.

Academician, member of the Conservatoire and Museum Commission under the Revolution, he specialised in Italian and Parisian landscape.

Design for the Louvre's Great Gallery.

Oil on canvas; 33.5 cm x 42 cm.

Study for the 1796 Salon painting called Design for the Conversion of the Museum's Gallery to Bring in Light through the Ceiling and to Divide it up, without Altering the Extended View of the Premises , formerly in the Tsarskoie Selo Palace and currently part of a private collection in Buenos Aires. Jacques Doucet sale, Paris, 6 June 1912 (ndeg. 184). Gift of Maurice Fenaille to the French State in 1912.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 2050).

Robin Claude (attributed to)

Portrait of the Architect Victor Louis.

Oil on canvas; 32 cm x 24 cm.

Study or replica (?). Gift to the city of Bordeaux in 1894.

Architect Victor Louis (1731-1800) designed the great Theatre of Bordeaux, part of the Royal Palace in Paris and the Royal Château of Warsaw.

Bordeaux, Town Hall.

Roland Delaporte Henri Horace

Paris, 1724 or 1725; Paris, 1793.

Academician and specialist in still-life.

The Basket of Eggs.

Oil on canvas; 38 cm x 48 cm.

Signed, dated: Roland Delaporte Pxit (bottom left) 1788 (top left on a painted label).

Exhibited at the 1789 Salon under the title A Basket of Fresh Eggs, with Fruit and Vegetables . At the dealer Abraham Fontanel's in 1803. Jacques-Joseph de Boussairolles Collection. Purchased by the French State from the Saporta family in 1982.

The Light Collation (Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 1979 1) has been exhibited with The Basket of Eggs since1803, although it is not a true pendant.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (RF 1982 78).

Roslin Alexander

Malmö, 1718; Paris, 1793.

Trained in Stockholm, settled in Paris, travelled in Germany, Austria, Italy and Russia; academician, specialised in the society portrait.

Portrait of the Duke of Choiseul.

Oil on canvas; 95 cm x 72.5 cm.

Left in deposit at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Troyes, in 1872. Formerly attributed to Louis Michel Van Loo.

Another version exists in the Musée de Versailles.

Born in Lorraine, descended from a distinguished family from Champagne, Etienne François, the Duke of Choiseul (1719-1785), was Foreign Secretary, Minister of War and Maritime Defence from 1758 to 1770. Here he wears the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Troyes, Musée des Beaux-Arts (D. 872.2).

Saint-Aubin Gabriel de

Paris, 1724; Paris, 1780.

Having quarrelled with the Royal Academy, he made his career in the St. Luke Academy.

Cabinet of a Connoisseur.

Oil on wood; 25 cm x 40.5 cm.

Henri and Suzanne Baderou Donation to the city of Rouen in 1975.

Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. 975.4.149).

Santerre Jean-Baptiste

Magny-en-Vexin, 1658; Paris, 1717.

Academician and inventor of the fantasy portrait.

Philip of Orléans, Regent of France, with Minerva.

Oil on canvas; 248 cm x 160 cm.

Executed circa 1716. Orléans Collection. Purchased by the French State from M. Lemarchand in 1834.

Son of Philip of Orléans, brother of Louis XIV and Charlotte Elisabeth of Bavaria, grandson of Louis XIII, Philip of Orléans (1674-1723) bore the title of Duke of Chartres until 1701. In 1692, he had married Mademoiselle de Blois, Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan's lawfully recognised daughter. "His Royal Highness the Duke of Orléans was of medium height at most, stout without being fat, with a natural, highly noble air and bearing, a pleasant, wide, ruddy face, dark hair and similar wig" (Saint-Simon). "My son likes and understands war; he does not like shooting, gambling, dancing or hunting [...] He enjoys distilling alcohols and perfumes; he is interested in science and conversation. He talks rather well at a reception. He has studied hard and knows a lot, for he has an excellent memory" (Charlotte Elisabeth of Bavaria).

Marie Madeleine de La Vieuville, the Countess of Parabère (1693-1755) is depicted as Minerva.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 3701, inv. 7839, LP 972).

Subleyras Pierre

Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, 1699; Rome, 1749.

Winner of the Rome Prize, he spent most of his life in this town. A protégé of the Pope and forerunner of neoclassicism, he tried his hand at all genres.

Portrait of Pope Benedict XIV.

Oil on canvas; 125 cm x 98 cm.

Painted late1740 or early 1741, shortly after the sitter's accession to the papal throne. Given to the Sorbonne by the Pope "as a measure of his esteem" in 1757. Confiscated during the Revolution. Alexandre Lenoir Collection (1838). Duke of Sutherland Collection, Stafford House (1876). Duke of Aumale Donation to the Institute in 1886 (actual entry in 1897, no loans or deposits permitted).

Numerous replicas of this portrait exist, including one currently at the Musée de Versailles, a previous gift to the Royal Academy made by Cochin.

From 1740-1758, Prospero Lambertini (1675-1758) was the 245th Pope and took the name of Benedict XIV. He recognised the kingdom of Prussia, had Galileo and Copernicus removed from the Index and corresponded with members of the scientific world.

Chantilly, Musée Condé (inv. ndeg. 384).

Suvée Joseph Benoît

Bruges, 1743; Rome, 1807.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, director of the French Academy in Rome and history painter.

The Combat Between Minerva and Mars.

Oil on canvas; 143 cm x 109.5 cm.

Prizewinning painting in the 1771 Rome competition. Academy Collection. Assigned to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille, in 1873.

A sketch exists in Rouen, a study in Montpellier.

The scene is taken from Book XXI of Homer's Iliad : "Ares, Breaker of Shields, began the fight by making for Athene, bronze spear in hand [...] Athene drew back and with her great hand picked up a block of stone that was lying on the ground, a big rough boulder once used to mark a boundary. With this she cast and struck the impetuous Ares on the neck, bringing him down. There he lay, covering seven acres."

Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. P.345).

Troy Jean-François de, or De Troy Jean-François

Paris, 1679; Rome, 1752.

Academician, professor, director of the French Academy in Rome and history painter. He also produced models for tapestries.

Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, Marquis of Marigny.

Oil on canvas; 132 cm x 96 cm.

Signed: Detroy . Painted in 1750.

Assigned to the French State by the Office des Biens privés in 1953.

Brother of the Marquise de Pompadour, Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, Marquis of Marigny (1727-1781), was Administrator of Royal Residences and Factories from 1751-1774. He was carefully prepared for this post on a journey to Italy, accompanied by the engraver Cochin and the architect Soufflot.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 8019, MNR 52).

Valenciennes Pierre Henri de

Toulouse, 1750; Paris, 1819.

Academician and principal exponent of neoclassical landscape in France.

Cicero Discovering the Tomb of Archimedes.

Oil on canvas; 119 cm x 162 cm.

Signed, dated: P. de Valenciennes 1787 (bottom right).

Academy admission piece (1787). Exhibited at the 1787 Salon (ndeg. 171). Left in deposit by the French State at the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, in 1962; previously in deposit at the Musée de Brou at Bourg-en-Bresse.

The following description appeared in the Salon handbook: "With his brilliant strategies, Archimedes defended Syracuse for three years against the Romans, led by Marcellus, but was killed when the town was finally taken and forgotten by his fellow citizens. When Cicero was appointed Quaestor in Sicily three hundred years after Syracuse's ruin, nobody could show him where the great man's tomb was; they even denied its existence; but Cicero was sure of his facts and knew that, before he died, Archimedes had asked that his tomb be decorated only with his beautiful geometric figure, the sphere circumscribing a cylinder. Thanks to this inscription he found the overgrown grave, had it cleared and showed it to the people of Syracuse."

Toulouse, Musée des Augustins (inv. D 1962 1, inv. 8243).

Vallayer-Coster Anne

Paris, 1744; Paris, 1818.

Academician, head of the queen's painting cabinet, she specialised in portraits and still-lifes.

Still-Life, Cock and Hen, otherwise known as Two Dead Cockerels.

Oil on canvas; 53 cm x 64 cm.

Signed, dated:Mde Coster 1785 (bottom left).

Exhibited at the 1787 Salon under the title A Cock and a White Hen (ndeg. 71).

Count of Angiviller Collection. Left in deposit by the French State at the Musée de Tessé, Le Mans, in 1872. Falsely attributed to the Dutch painter Melchior Hondecoeter (1636-1695) in 1932. Its companion piece A Hunting Trophy belongs to Mme Ruby's Collection.

Le Mans, Musée de Tessé (inv. MI 10028, LM 1O.116).

Van Loo Charles André, known as Carle Van Loo

Nice, 1705; Paris, 1765.

Brother of Louis Michel Van Loo, winner of the Rome Prize, academician, professor then rector and director of the Academy, First Painter to the King, he was the outstanding representative of the grand style .

Louis XV, King of France and Navarre (1710-1774).

Oil on canvas; 277 cm x 183 cm.

Signed: Carle Vanloo .

Commission given to Charles Parrocel by Louis XV in 1746, then transferred to Carle Van Loo. Exhibited at the 1751 Salon. Louis XV Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

The face was copied after a pastel by Latour.

Formerly attributed to Charles Parrocel.

Louis XV (1710-1774), known as Louis le Bien-Aimé , was Louis XIV's great grandson, son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, and became king in 1715 at the age of five. He married Marie Leszczynska, daughter of the King of Poland, in 1725. The king is seen here wearing the necklace of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 4389, inv. 7124).

Van Loo Louis Michel

Toulon, 1707; Paris, 1771.

Brother of Carle Van Loo, winner of the Rome Prize, academician, director of the San Fernando Academy in Madrid and portraitist at the court of Spain.

Denis Diderot.

Oil on canvas; 81 cm x 65 cm.

Signed, dated: L M Van Loo 1767 .

Exhibited at the 1767 Salon under the title Portrait of M. Diderot . Diderot Collection. Gift of M. de Vandeul to the French State in 1911. Reproduced in engravings.

Philosopher and man of letters, Denis Diderot (1713-1784) took a vivid interest in the arts, as can be seen from his critical reviews of the Salons published between 1759 and 1781. His commentary on his portrait by Van Loo was, "I myself like Michel; but I like truth even better. There is a certain resemblance [...] Very lively; it's his gentleness, together with his vivacity; but he's too young, the head's too small, pretty as a woman, peering, smiling, affected, turning up his nose, simpering, [...] and then there's the luxury of a garment that would ruin a poor literary man, if the tax collector came to tax him on his dressing gown [...] Sprightly close-up, vigorous from afar [...] his grey toupet and his affectedness, make him look like an old flirt laying on the charm; the attitude of a Secretary of State and not a philosher..."

Paris, Musée du Louvre (RF 1958).

Vernet Joseph

Avignon, 1714; Paris, 1789.

Trained in Italy, academician, landscape painter and one of the forerunners of Romanticism.

The Town and the Port of Toulon.

Oil on canvas; 165 cm x 263 cm.

Signed, dated, situated: peint par Joseph Vernet à Toulon en 1756.

One of a series of fifteen paintings of French seaports, commissioned by Louis XV in 1753 and executed between 1754 and 1765. Exhibited at the 1757 Salon. Louis XV Collection. Engraved by Cochin and Lebas in 1763. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

Thirteen other paintings in the series are in deposit at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

The following specifications appeared in the Salon handbook: "View of the town and port of Toulon. This view is taken from a country-house halfway up the mountain behind the town. Depicted here are the leisure activities of the inhabitants and the carriages they use to go their country-houses, which are known as bastides . The time of day is the morning."

Paris, Musée du Louvre (RF 8279).

Vien Joseph Marie

Montpellier, 1716; Paris, 1809.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician, professor, director of the French Academy in Rome, history painter and one of leading innovators of neoclassicism.

St. Louis and Marguerite of Provence Visiting St. Theobald.

Oil on canvas; 383 cm x 180 cm.

Signed, dated: Jos.M.Vien. 1774.

Commissioned by Louis XV in 1767. Installed in the chapel of the "New Trianon". Exhibited at the 1775 Salon. Louis XVI Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

On commissioning this work, Louis XV specified the following: "St. Theobald of Marly, Abbot of Vaux-de-Cernay, came from the House of Montmorency and France believed it owed St. Louis' posterity to his prayers. He died on 8 December 1247."

The Salon handbook stated: "St. Theobald (from the House of Montmorency) presented St. Louis and Marguerite of Provence with a basket of flowers and fruit, from which eleven lilies miraculously sprang up. The king had no children as yet. With these symbolic lilies, St. Theobald predicted he would have eleven of them, while the tallest stem designated Robert, head of the House of Bourbon." The saint is accompanied by his cousin Bouchard VI, head of the House of Montmorency.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 7136, inv. 8436, MR 2664).

Vigée-Le Brun Elisabeth Louise

Paris, 1755; Paris, 1842.

Academician, member of the St. Luke Academy in Rome and the Academy of St. Petersburg, she was official portraitist of the Queen of France, then, during the Revolution, at various European courts.

Marie-Antoinette of Austria, Queen of France.

Oil on canvas; 113 cm x 87 cm.

Exhibited at the 1783 Salon under the title Portrait of the Queen . Louis XVI Collection. Crown Collection. Property of the French State.

Marie Antoinette Joseph Jeanne of Lorraine, Archduchess of Austria, born in 1755, daughter of the German Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, married the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, in 1770. She was guillotined in 1793.

Versailles, Musée National du Château et des Trianons (inv. MV 3893, inv. 3063, AC 1948).

Vincent François André

Paris, 1746; Paris, 1816.

Winner of the Rome Prize, academician and one of the initiators of neoclassicism. His wife, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, executed his portrait.

The Ploughing Lesson.

Oil on canvas; 213 cm x 313 cm.

Signed, dated: Vincent l'an VI (centre bottom).

Started in 1793, the painting was completed in 1798. The upper part of the canvas was burnt in a fire at the Museum on 7 December 1870. Purchased by the city of Bordeaux from Bernard Boyer-Fonfrède in 1830.

There are two preparatory drawings in private collections; three studies in paint also exist: one in the Count of Mimerel Collection, one in the M. Bruno Calvet Collection in Bordeaux and one that was sold at the Georges Petit Gallery in Paris on 3 June 1922 (ndeg. 15).

The scene attests to the physiocratic ideas as found in Treatise on the Cultivation of the Land (1750) by the agronomist Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700-82) and Rural Philosophy or General and Individual Economy of Agriculture (1764, 3 volumes) by the economist Mirabeau (1715-89). It may depict the family of the future Girondin member of the National Convention, François Bernard Boyer-Fonfrède (1766-93), with his wife Marie-Anne, née Barrère, and their children Geneviève and Jean-François Bernard, who is having a ploughing lesson.

Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts (inv. BXE 340. BXM 6002)..

Watteau Jean-Antoine

Valenciennes, 1684; Nogent-sur-Marne, 1721.

The Academy created the special category of fêtes galantes for him.

The Pilgrimage to the Isle of Cythera, formerly known as The Embarkation for Cythera.

Oil on canvas; 129 cm x 194 cm.

Academy admission piece. Provisionally elected in 1712, Watteau only submitted his admission piece, the choice of which was exceptionally left up to him, in 1717, after several complaints from the Academy. Academy Collection. Confiscated under the Revolution. Assigned to the Louvre. A replica may be found at the castle of Charlottenburg in Berlin.

Paris, Musée du Louvre (RF 8525).

Watteau Louis Joseph, known as Watteau of Lille

Valenciennes, 1737; Lille, 1798.

Nephew of Antoine Watteau, he became the official painter of the city of Lille circa 1770.

Monsieur Blanchard's Fourteenth Aeronautical Experiment, Accompanied by Chevalier Lépinard, Lille, 26 August 1785.

Oil on canvas; 99 cm x 128.8 cm.

Signed, dated: L. Watteau 1785.

Commissioned by Carrez. Laniel-Carrez Collection. Laniel Collection. Jules Lenglart sale at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris,10 March 1902 (ndeg. 103). Paul Delemer Collection. Purchased by the city of Lille at the André Delemer sale at the Palais Galliera, Paris, 27 March 1971 (ndeg. 37). In deposit at the Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse, Lille. Reproduced in engravings.

Several preparatory drawings for the crowd and a companion piece (inv. P 1864) are at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille.

Jean-Pierre Blanchard (1753-1809) perfected the Montgolfier brothers' balloon. A few months before this painting was executed, he and Jefferie had made the first Channel crossing in a balloon. The same year, he would be the first to try out the parachute. He made numerous balloon flights in Europe and America during his lifetime. His wife, Sophie Armand (1778-1819) was also a balloonist and was to meet her death on one of her experimental flights.

Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Wicar Jean-Baptiste

Lille, 1762; Rome, 1834.

Pupil of David, he made his career in Italy, in Florence, Naples and, above all, Rome.

The Judgement of Solomon.

OIl on canvas; 103 cm x 155 cm.

Signed, dated, situated:J.J. Wicar inv. et fecit 1785 Lutetiae.

Gift of the artist to the city of Lille in 1785. Exhibited at the 1786 and 1817 Salons des Beaux-Arts in Lille.

Artists have frequently treated this biblical subject from the First Book of Kings (3, 16-28) where two prostitutes both claim to be the mother of one child: "And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof."

Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts (P 443).

Wille Pierre Alexandre

Paris, 1748; ?, 1821.

Son of engraver Jean-Georges Wille, he was Greuze's pupil, before becoming a member of the Rouen Academy of Science, Literature and Fine Arts; he was later admitted to the Royal Academy in Paris.

French Patriotism or The Departure.

Oil on canvas; 162 cm x 129 cm.

Signed, dated: P.A. Wille filius pxit 1785 ndeg. 76 (bottom left).

Exhibited at the 1785 Salon. Engraved by J.J. Avril in 1788. Maistre Collection. Van den Beigh Gallery. Gift of Anne Morgan to the French State in 1931.

Companion piece also found in the Musée National de la Coopération Franco-Américaine (inv. CFA C 226).

The sculpted bust to which the father is pointing represents Louis XVI.

Blérancourt, Musée National de la Coopération Franco-Américaine (inv. CFA C 225).