Jean Baptiste Le Prince

Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (September 17, 1734 – September 30, 1781) was an important French etcher and painter. Le Prince first studied painting techniques in his native Metz. He then travelled to Paris around 1750 and became a leading student of the great painter,

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

(1703–1770). Le Prince's early paintings in both theme and style are comparable to his master's rococo techniques. He was the half-brother of French author Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. In 1758 Le Prince journeyed to Russia to work for

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

at the Imperial Palace, St. Petersburg. He remained in Russia for five years and also travelled extensively throughout Finland,

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

and even Siberia. When Le Prince returned to Paris in December, 1763, he brought with him an extensive collection of drawings which he employed as the basis for a number of fine paintings and etchings. J. B. Le Prince was elected a full member of the '' Académie de peinture et de sculpture'' in 1765. Le Prince's graphic art of Russia and its peoples is significant in that he based his compositions entirely upon his own designs, lending a much more realistic portrayal to his views than other eighteenth century contemporaries. He is also credited with being the first artist (in 1768) to introduce aquatint into his etched and engraved plates. He may even have been the inventor of aquatint, the tonal graphic art that would later be so skillfully used by such masters as Goya,

Louis-Philibert Debucourt Philibert-Louis Debucourt, (13 February 1755 – 22 September 1832) was a French painter and engraver. Life Debucourt, was born in Paris in 1755, and became a pupil of Vien. He executed a few plates in mezzotint, such as the ''Heureuse famil ...

Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...

and Thomas Rowlandson. 1734 births Artists from Metz 1781 deaths French etchers 18th-century French painters French male painters 18th-century French male artists {{France-painter-18thC-stub