Louis Caravaque, Portrait of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730)

Louis Caravaque (, Marseilles, 1684–1754, St. Petersburg) was a French

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

painter who worked in Russia.

Life

Caravaque was born in

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, in a family of a painter-decorator who specialised in painting ships from

Gascony Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part o ...

. Caravaque followed in his father's footsteps, starting work at the Arsenal Galeries in Marseille. In 1715 in Paris he attracted the attention of Peter Lefort with his portraits, with whom he concluded a contract to work in Russia for three years as a painter and with the additional obligation of training Russian pupils. He went to Russia, and painted a portrait of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

in 1716 . It was engraved by Massard and by

Langlois Langlois or L'Anglois is a surname of French origin. It may refer to: * Aimé Langlois (1880–1954), Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons *Al Langlois (born 1934), Canadian ice hockey player * Alexandre Langlois (1788–1854), Fre ...

. Caravaque lived on

Vasilyevsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south a ...

near the

Menshikov Palace The Menshikov Palace (russian: Меншиковский дворец) is a Petrine Baroque edifice in Saint Petersburg, situated on Universitetskaya Embankment of the Bolshaya Neva on Vasilyevsky Island.It is not to be confused with the Menshikov ...

, in his own house presented to him in 1722 by Peter I. He also lived in Moscow. During

Anna Ioannovna Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

's reign, he was appointed "the first painter at court" (at first with a salary of 1500 rubles, later 2000 rubles a year), he painted her coronation portrait and took part in the decoration of the coronation celebrations. He remained as a goffmiller under

Anna Leopoldovna Anna Leopoldovna (russian: А́нна Леопо́льдовна; 18 December 1718 – 19 March 1746), born Elisabeth Katharina Christine von Mecklenburg-Schwerin and also known as Anna Carlovna (А́нна Ка́рловна), was regent of R ...

and

Elizaveta Petrovna Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...

. He became the author of the official "approved" image of Elisabeth as the new Empress. In May 1743 he was entrusted with a responsible order - to execute fourteen portraits of Elizabeth for Russian embassies abroad. He also participated in the decoration of her coronation. He died in Russia

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, on June 9, 1754.

Gallery

File:Louis Caravaque 005.jpg, Portrait of Peter the Great. File:Карвак - Портрет царевны Елизаветы Петровны.jpg, Portrait of the future Empress Elizabeth as an Olympic goddess. Now at the

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...

, St. Petersburg. File:Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeevna by L.Caravaque (1745, Gatchina museum).jpg, Portrait of

Catherine II of Russia , 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 ...

, 1745. Now at the

Gatchina Palace The Great Gatchina Palace (russian: Большой Гатчинский дворец) is a palace in Gatchina, Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It was built from 1766 to 1781 by Antonio Rinaldi (architect), Antonio Rinaldi for Count Grigori Grigoryevi ...

References

Sources

External links

Tretyakov Gallery
18th-century French painters French male painters 1684 births 1752 deaths French portrait painters Russian portrait painters 18th-century painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters French emigrants to Russia 18th-century French male artists {{France-painter-17thC-stub