Alexis Grimou, also Grimoult or Grimoux (1678–1733) was a French portrait painter.Alexis Grimou
at the RKD He worked for an elite clientele and was called the French

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

as he introduced the Northern European style of portrait painting in France.Melissa Percival, ''Taste and Trade: The Drinking Portraits of Alexis Grimou (1678–1733)''
in The Art Bulletin Volume 101, 2019 - Issue 1, pp. 6-25 Many of his intimate portraits at half-lengths were influential on the development of 18th-century portrait painting in France. Portrait painters such as

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific ar ...

and Jean-Baptiste Greuze were influenced by his work.Corinne Maisant, ''Alexis Grimou'', Grove Art online
/ref>

Life

Grimou was born in Argenteuil on 24 May 1678, the son of a carpenter. He is often confused with Jean Grimou (1674–1733), an unrelated Swiss

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

painter whose father served with the

Swiss Guards Swiss Guards (french: Gardes Suisses; german: Schweizergarde; it, Guardie Svizzere'')'' are Swiss soldiers who have served as guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. The earliest Swiss guard unit to be established on a p ...

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. Grimou probably trained with François de Troy, from whom he learnt to use a warm palette and simple pictorial compositions. Sometime in the late 1690s, he was apprenticed to the painter and engraver

Bon Boullogne Bon Boullogne (bapt. February 22, 1649 – May 17, 1717) was a French painter. Biography Boullogne was born in Paris, a son of the painter Louis Boullogne;

.François Marandet, ''Alexis Grimou (Argenteuil, 1678 - Paris, 1733)'', in: 'Dossier de presse Bon Boullogne (1649-1717) Un chef d’école au Grand Siècle', 5 décembre 2014 – 5 mars 2015 Musée Magnin
pp 20-21 In 1704, he married Marie-Gabrielle Petit, a niece of

Procopio Cutò Procopio Cutò, also known as Francesco Procopio Cutò, Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, or François Procope () was a chef from Kingdom of Sicily, Sicily.Portinari Billing himself as a modern Procopius, he founded in 1686 what has become the olde ...

, founder of the ''

Café Procope The Café Procope in the Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie is a café in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was opened in 1686 by the Sicilian chef Procopio Cutò (also known by his Italian name Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli and his French name Fran ...

'', a meeting place for artists and intellectuals. Economics may have been a motive in the union, as a notary document in the Archives Nationales reveals that she owned a considerable amount of property on

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

; along with slaves and "autres effets mobiliers et immobiliers" (other assets, moveable and immoveable). His brother-in-law, Matthias François Petit, was the intermediary who, between 1740 and 1753, was commissioned to purchase art for the collection of King

Friedrich II Frederick II, Frederik II or Friedrich II may refer to: * Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194–1250), King of Sicily from 1198; Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 * Frederick II of Denmark (1534–1588), king of Denmark and Norway 1559–1588 * Frede ...

of Prussia. That collection would come to include numerous works by Boullogne and his students. In 1705 he was approved (agréé) by the

Académie Royale An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. In order to be admitted as full member of the Académie he was required to paint two reception pieces, being portraits of the sculptor Jean Raon, who died before it was completed, and the painter

Antoine Coypel Antoine Coypel (11 April 16617 January 1722) was a French painter, pastellist, engraver, decorative designer and draughtsman.Académie de Saint-Luc instead. Alexis Grimou - The four ages of man

In 1709, he may have visited the Netherlands to copy the

Dutch Masters Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republ ...

. This is inferred from a sudden darkening in his palette and some copies after Dutch masters which he made later. Known to have a dissolute lifestyle, he was always in debt and often paid his creditors with small works done on the spot. He was in his time referred to as a weird and strange person, in particular for his heavy drinking. According to contemporary anecdotes he always had five bottles of good

burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

with him while he painted.Alexis Grimou
in: Mercure français, January 1777, pp. 190=197 In 1805, he was the subject of a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

entitled "Grimou ou Le portrait a finir", which was staged by

Maxime de Redon Marquis Charles-François-Jean-Maxime de Redon des Chapelles was a theatrically-obsessed aristocrat under the French ''ancien régime'', and a former French cavalry officer, who in Napoleon's France became one of the more prolific authors for the po ...

in Paris. From 1720 until his death, for unknown reasons, he became much more responsible and productive. He died in 1733, well known and appreciated for his work.

Work

Grimou painted mainly portraits at half-length which are intimate in nature and often include a

aspect. Because of the influence of Dutch genre and portrait painting and the use of

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

techniques similar to those used by Rembrandt in his works, he was sometimes called the "French Rembrandt". Grimou developed the moralistic traits in Dutch genre portraits into budding representations of new concept of aesthetic taste. The artist projected a refined image in his self-portraits as a drinker and as Bacchus. His fantasy portraits which are close to Dutch

tronie A tronie is a type of work common in Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that depicts an exaggerated or characteristic facial expression. These works were not intended as portraits but as studies of expression, type, physiognom ...

s were influential on French portrait painters in the 18th century such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard,

Charles Eisen Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen (17 August 1720 – 4 January 1778) was a French painter and engraver. Life The son and pupil of Frans Eisen, he was born at Valenciennes. In 1741 he went to Paris, and in the following year entered the studio of ...

, Joseph Ducreux and Jean-Baptiste Greuze. He was so successful that he often created many variations on the same types such as that of the Young Male and Female Pilgrims which he painted as pendants.

Gallery

File:Alexis Grimou - Portrait of a gentleman dressed à la Van Dyck, probably a self-portrait.jpg, File:Antoine Coypel - Portrait of a woman playing a hurdy gurdy.jpg, File:Alexis Grimou - Half-length figure of a young man.jpg, File:Grimou Portrait of a man.jpg, File:Portrait de Mrs Héron de la Tuilerie et Héron de Courgy, en costume flamand.jpg, File:Alexis Grimou - The Toper.jpg,

References

Sources

Cyrille Gabillot, ''Alexis Grimou, peintre français (1678-1733)''
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1911 * Levitine, George (Autumn 1968). "The Eighteenth-Century Rediscovery of Alexis Grimou and the Emergence of the Proto-Bohemian Image of the French Artist". ''Eighteenth-Century Studies''. 2 (1): 58–76. . * Maisant, Corinne (1996).
Grimou, Alexis
. In Turner, Jane, ed. ''

The Dictionary of Art ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

''. 13. New York: Grove's Dictionaries. pp. 665–666. . . *

Louis Réau Louis Réau (1 January 1881, Poitiers - 10 June 1961, Paris) was a French art historian. His major contribution involved exploring French art's international influence. His magnum opus, ''Iconographie de l'Art Chrétien'', in six volumes, encompas ...

, "Grimou, 1678 à 1733", in Louis Dimier (Ed.), ''Les Peintres français du XVIIIe siècle'', Vol.2, G. Van Oest, Paris, Brussels, 1930, pgs.195-215.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimou, Alexis 1678 births 1738 deaths 17th-century French painters French male painters 18th-century French painters 18th-century French male artists