Nicolas de Largillière (; 10 October 1656 – 20 March 1746) was a French

portrait painter Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

, born in Paris.

Biography

Early life

Largillière's father, a merchant, took him to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

at the age of three. As a boy, he spent nearly two years in London. Sometime after his return to Antwerp, a failed attempt at business led him to the studio of

Anton Goubau Anton Goubau or Anton Goebouw (1616 in Antwerp – 1698 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He spent time in Rome where he moved in the circle of the Bamboccianti, Dutch and Flemish genre painters who created small cabinet paintings of th ...

. However, Largillière left at the age of eighteen and went to England, where he was befriended and employed by

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Peter Lely Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 7 December 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. Life Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch ...

for four years at

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west of ...

Painting career

Early career

His painting caught the attention of Charles II, who wished to retain Largillière in his service, but the controversy aroused by the

Rye House Plot The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York. The royal party went from Westminster to Newmarket to see horse races and were expected to make the ...

against

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

alarmed Largillière. Largillière left for Paris, where he was well received by the public as a painter. Upon ascending to the throne in 1685, James II requested Largillière to return to England. James II offered Largillière the office of keeper of the royal collections, but he declined due to being uneasy about Rye House Plot. However, during a short stay in London, he painted portraits of the king, the queen

Mary of Modena Mary of Modena ( it, Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este; ) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII. A devout Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was then the young ...

, and the prince of Wales

James Francis Edward Stuart James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II and VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales from ...

. The portrait of the Prince of Wales could not have been painted during Largillière's stay in London because the prince was not born until 1688. The three portraits painted by Largillière of the prince in his youth must have been executed in Paris, where he returned sometime before March 1686. The portrait of King James II was painted in 1686. King James is portrayed in golden armor with a white cravat and is positioned in front of a watercolour-like background set in a round frame.

French Academy

In Paris, during the year 1686, Largillière produced a portrait of the painter

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...

for admittance to the French Academy. The portrait shows Le Brun, then the chairman of the academy, at work on an entombment, surrounded by classical busts and figurines scattered upon the floor and table within the picture. Le Brun, impressed by Largillière's portrait, accepted him to the academy. In 1690, Largillière was documented by the French Academy as a historical painter, which was a prominent artistic trend of the academy until the introduction of

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

. In 1693, Largillière painted the Governor of Arras, Pierre de Montesquiou, to celebrate his promotion to brigadier in 1691. In 1694, Largillière's made a multi-figure work that is displayed in the church of

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is a church in Paris, France, on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the 5th arrondissement, near the Panthéon. It contains the shrine of St. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. The church also contains the tombs of Bl ...

. In 1709, Largillière painted the royal family portrait of ''The Family of Louis XIV''. This portrait shows

King Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

, Madame de Ventadour (governess of the children of the Duke of Burgundy), the 3-year old

Louis, Duke of Brittany (1707–1712) Louis, Duke of Brittany (8 January 1707 – 8 March 1712) was the second son of Louis of France, Duke of Burgundy, and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy. The eldest surviving son of the Dauphin, he was a ''fils de France''. Louis was born at Versai ...

Louis, Grand Dauphin Louis, Dauphin of France (1 November 1661 – 14 April 1711), commonly known as Grand Dauphin, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Louis XIV and his spouse, Maria Theresa of Spain. He became known as the Grand Dauphin after the birth of h ...

and

Louis, Duke of Burgundy Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy (16 August 1682 – 18 February 1712), was the eldest son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria and grandson of the reigning French king, Louis XIV. He was known as the "Petit ...

, future dauphin. The King displays a sense of slight uneasiness unlike the other figures especially. In the painting, Largillière used the Renaissance technique of structured disposition. A year later, Largillière painted a self-portrait which also contained two female members of his family.

Later career

Towards the end of his life, Largillière painted a repetition of anonymous male portraits of Parisian nobles. One example was painted in 1710, of a man standing with spread fingers that conceal a letter held in the other hand. Another portrait from about 1715 shows a frontal three quarter view of a man dressed in similar clothes and wig with a Doric column in the background. In 1714, Largillière painted King

Augustus II of Poland Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

. Largillière also painted the artist

Jacques-Antoine Arlaud Jacques Antoine Arlaud (1668 –1743) was a Genevan miniature painter. His family obtained in 1617 the citizenship (''bourgeoisie'') in Geneva Arlaud in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland). Geneva was then an independent republic, which it re ...

in a red robe in a similar fashion to Largillière's portrait of the painter Charles Le Brun, as well as the sculptor Nicolas Couston. Around the next year, Largillière painted ''The Study of Different Types of Hands'', which currently resides in the Louvre. In 1718, Largillière painted the French poet and essayist Voltaire. ''The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem'' was a landscape painting that Largillière painted in 1720. Largillière made his last self-portrait in 1725. This portrait displays the artist at his easel staring toward the audience. Largillière was appointed as chancellor of the French Academy in 1743.

Death

Nicolas de Largillière died on 20 March 1746 at the age of 89. Upon his death, he donated to France several small landscapes and still life pictures he had created.

Legacy

The

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

(University of Oxford), the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

(University of Cambridge), the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single col ...

, the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

(Washington D.C.), the

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

(Kansas City, Missouri), the

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg (Museum of Fine Arts of Strasbourg) is the old masters paintings collection of the city of Strasbourg, located in the Alsace region of France. The museum is housed in the first and second floors of the ...

and

Pinacoteca di Brera The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

(Milan),

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum houses one of the world's most important private art collections. It includes works from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century, spanning the arts of the Islamic World, China and Japan, as well as the French de ...

Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (; MNAA), also known in English as the National Museum of Ancient Art, is a Portuguese national art museum located in Lisbon. With over 40,000 items spanning a vast collection of painting, sculpture, goldware, fu ...

(Lisbon),

Museum de Fundatie Museum de Fundatie () is a museum for the visual arts in Zwolle, Netherlands. Museum de Fundatie forms part of the Hannema-de Stuers Foundation, to which Kasteel het Nijenhuis in Heino also belongs. Museum de Fundatie possesses a collection of vis ...

(

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

),
/ref> the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the list of largest art museums, largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation a ...

(Detroit) and the

Speed Art Museum The Speed Art Museum, originally known as the J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, now colloquially referred to as the Speed by locals, is the oldest and largest art museum in Kentucky. It was established in 1927 in Louisville, Kentucky on Third Street ...

(

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

) are among the public collections holding works by Nicolas de Largillière.

Jean-Baptiste Oudry Jean-Baptiste Oudry (; 17 March 1686 – 30 April 1755) was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Ch ...

and

Jacob van Schuppen Jacob van Schuppen (26 January 1670 – 29 January 1751) was a French-Austrian Painting, painter who was known for his portraits, history paintings and genre scenes. He was court painter in Vienna. Biography Jacob van Schuppen was born in Fo ...

, Largillière's pupil and nephew respectively, were also rococo painters.

Gallery

Image:Elizabeth Throckmorton.JPG, Portrait of Elizabeth Throckmorton Image:Augustus III of Poland.jpg, Portrait of

Augustus III of Poland Augustus III ( pl, August III Sas, lt, Augustas III; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire where he was known as Frederick Aug ...

Image:Portrait of the Comtesse de Montchal (1715-1793).jpg, Portrait of Louise-Madeleine Bertin, Countess of Montchal Image:LARGILLIÈRE man in purper.jpg, Portrait of a Man in a Purple Robe Image:Nicolas de Largillière, François-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire (vers 1724-1725) -001.jpg, Portrait of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

Image:Nicolas de Largillière 004.jpg, Self-portrait with family File:Nicolas de Largillière - Retrato de Marguerite de Sève.jpg, '' Portrait of Marguerite de Sève'' Largillierre belle Strasbourgeoise mba mb.jpg, (1703) Image:BECAILLE, Marguerite.jpg, Portrait of Marguerite Bécaille Image:Titon de Cogny.jpg, Portrait of Pierre-Joseph Titon de Cogny Image:Image-Mme. Titon de Cogny.jpg, Portrait of Jeanne-Cécile Le Guay de Montgermon File:Nicolas de Largillière - Portrait of Catherine Coustard (1673-1728), Marquise of Castelnau, Wife of Charles-Léonor Aubry (1667-1735) with her Son Léonor (1695-1770) - 77.26 - Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg, Portrait of Catherine Coustard with her son Léonor,

Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

Image:Nicolas de Largillière 002.jpg, Portrait of

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689) was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Tavernier, a private individual and merchant traveling at his own expense, covered, by his own account, 60,000 leagues in making six voyages to Persia ...

Image:Portrait of an officer, oil on canvas painting by Nicolas de Largillière, 1714-15, Art Gallery of New South Wales.jpg, Portrait of an officer, oil on canvas, 1714–15,

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

File:Largilliere, Nicolas de & Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay - Helene Lambert de Thorigny, c. 1696-1700, oil on canvas, 63 x 45 in.jpg, Oil on canvas portrait of Helene Lambert de Thorigny by Nicolas de Largillière (portrait) and Jean-Baptiste Belin (flowers), c. 1696–1700, 63 × 45 in.,

File:Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain.jpg, Infanta

Mariana Victoria of Spain Mariana Victoria of Spain ( pt, Mariana Vitória; 31 March 1718 – 15 January 1781) was an '' Infanta of Spain'' by birth and was later the Queen of Portugal as wife of King Joseph I. She acted as regent of Portugal in 1776–1777, during the l ...

, one-time fiancée of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

File:Anne Geneviève de Lévis par Nicolas de Largillière.jpg,

Anne Geneviève de Lévis Anne Geneviève de Lévis (February 1673 – 20 March 1727) was a French noblewoman. She was Princess of Turenne by her first marriage and Duchess of Rohan-Rohan, Princess of Soubise by her second marriage. Anne Geneviève was the only child ...

, ''duchessede Rohan-Rohan'' by marriage and only daughter of

Madame de Ventadour Charlotte de La Motte Houdancourt, Duchess of Ventadour (Charlotte Eléonore Madeleine; 1654–1744) was a French office holder of the French Royal Court. She was the governess of King Louis XV of France, great-grandson of King Louis XIV. She ...

Image:Nicolas de Largillière An Alderman of Paris.JPG, ''An Alderman of Paris'', 1703, oil on canvas,

The Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project complete ...

File:Largillière Portrait of a lady.jpg, Portrait of a lady with a dog and a monkey (1700–1710) File:André François Alloys de Theys d'Herculais (1692–1779).jpg, André François Alloys de Theys d'Herculais (1692–1779) File:Thomas Germain and Anne-Denise Gauchelet by Nicolas de Largillierre (1736).png, Portrait of

Thomas Germain Thomas Germain (1673–1748) was the pre-eminent Parisian silversmith of the Rococo. The son of a Paris silversmith Pierre Germain (none of whose work survives) he did not at first train in the family workshop, but began as a painter, spending th ...

and his wife Anne-Denise Gauchelet in 1736 File:Nicolas de Largillière - Retrato de Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil.jpg, '' Portrait of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil'', 1729,

Timken Museum of Art The Timken Museum of Art is a fine art museum, established in 1965 and located at 1500 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, close to the San Diego Museum of Art. History The groundwork for the museum was laid in 1951 when Walter ...

, San Diego

References

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Largilliere, Nicolas de 1656 births 1746 deaths 17th-century French painters 18th-century French painters French male painters French portrait painters Orientalist painters Painters from Paris 18th-century French male artists