Marcellus Laroon or Lauron, the elder (1653–1702) was a Dutch-born painter and engraver, active in England. He provided the drawings for the popular series of prints "The Cries of London".

Life

He was born at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, the son of Marcellus Lauron, a painter of French extraction who settled in the Netherlands. He began his artistic education with his father, who took him to be taken to England at an early age. According to brief biographies by Horace Walpole and Bainbrigg Buckeridge he was taught by one "La Zoon" before studying under one of the Flessiers, a family of Dutch painters and framemakers working in London in the mid-17th century. He spent several years in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and later told

George Vertue George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Life Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields, ...

that he had seen

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 ...

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

in 1661. He had settled in London by 1674, the year in which he became a member of the Painter-Stainers Company. He lived in Bow Street,

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. He was frequently employed to paint draperies for

Sir Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to English and British monarchs from ...

, and was well known as a copyist. His self-portrait showed the scars resulting from injuries received in a street fight.

Works

Laroon became known for small portraits and

conversation piece A conversation piece refers to a group portrait in a domestic or landscape setting depicting persons chatting or otherwise socializing with each other.Egbert van Heemskerk Egbert van Heemskerck, or Egbert Jaspersz van Heemskerk (1634–1704) was a Haarlem Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works who died in London in 1704. He is often confused with another genre painter also called Egbert van Heemskerk III who l ...

, some of which were engraved in mezzotint by

Isaac Beckett Isaac Beckett (1653 – 1719) was an English mezzotint engraver, one of the first practitioners of the art in the country. Life and work Beckett was born in Kent in 1653, and apprenticed to a calico printer in London, but, after meeting Edward ...

and John Smith. He also made some etchings and

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonali ...

s on similar subjects himself. Buckeridge said of his painting

When he came to work for himself, he made it his endeavour to follow nature very close, so that his manner was wholly his own. He was a general Painter, and imitated other masters hands exactly well. He painted well, both in great and little, and was an exact draftsman; but he was chiefly famous for drapery, wherein he exceeded most of his .

Laroon is best known for the drawings he made of ''The Cryes of London'', which were engraved by John Savage, and published by Pierce Tempest. He also drew the illustrations for 'The Art of Defence', a fencing manual by William Elder published in 1699 and the procession at the coronation of William III and Mary in 1689. He painted portraits of Queen Mary (engraved in

by Robert Williams),

Caius Gabriel Cibber Caius Gabriel Cibber (1630–1700) was a Danish sculptor, who enjoyed great success in England, and was the father of the actor, author and poet laureate Colley Cibber. He was appointed "carver to the king's closet" by William III. Biograph ...

the sculptor, and others. Some drawings by him entered the collection of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Family

He married the daughter of Jeremiah Keene, a builder, of Little Sutton, near

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

, by whom he had a large family, including three sons, who were brought up in his profession.

Death

He died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

Richmond, Surrey Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

on 11 March 1702, and was buried there. He left a collection of pictures, which was sold by auction by his son Marcellus Laroon the Younger on 24 February 1725.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Laroon, Marcellus 1653 births 1702 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Dutch engravers 17th-century English painters English male painters English engravers Artists from The Hague Dutch emigrants to England Street cries