François Guérin (; 1717–1801) was a French 18th century artist, miniaturist and draughtsman, working in pastels and oil. He was a member of the

Académie de Saint-Luc The Académie de Saint-Luc (; ) was a guild of painters and sculptors set up in Paris in 1391, and dissolved in 1776. It was created by the Provost of Paris, along the lines of the Guilds of Saint Luke in other parts of Europe. In 1648, a group ...

an institution for those artists prevented for various reasons, from joining the more prestigious

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (; ) was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abolished in 1793 during the French Revolution. I ...

. However, the work of the Academie de Saint-Luc was so far from second rate that following a successful exhibition in 1777, the Royal Academy took offence, and with the backing of the monarchy, issued an edict in March 1776 abolishing “guilds, brotherhoods, and communities of arts and crafts”, forcing the Academie de Saint-Luc to close. Guérin had, however, been accepted into the more prestigious academy by 1761. Guérin's chief principal works were bust portraits and conversation pieces - small informal paintings of groups or couples shown within a domestic setting.

Life

Guérin is known to have had a son Thomas-François, but little more is reliably known. A 1748 portrait of Madame de Pompadour with her daughter indicates that he was active at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

in the mid 18th century. However, a second portrait, painted in the late 1760s, once thought to be Pompadour in discussion with the Duc de Choiseul, is now thought to be of two anonymous sitters due to the work recording precisely the furnishings which were too unfashionable for a salon of either Choiseul or Pompadour.Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt. p240

Notes

References

MA Mutual Art (François Guérin)
Retrieved 20 December 2019.
Tata (Conversation piece)
Retrieved 20 December 2019 *Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967.
Neil Jeffares: Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800
Retrieved 20 December 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Guerin, Francois 1717 births 1801 deaths 18th-century French painters French neoclassical painters French portrait painters Rococo painters French pastel artists Members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture