Pierre L'Enfant (August 26, 1704 – June 23, 1787) was an 18th-century French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

whose son, Pierre Charles, designed the basic plan for

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Biography

L'Enfant was born in

Anet Anet () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It lies 14 km north-northeast of Dreux between the rivers Eure and Vesgre, the latter flowing into the former some 4 km no ...

on August 26, 1704. After studying under

Charles Parrocel Charles Parrocel (6 May 1688 – 24 May 1752) was a French painter and engraver and a specialist in battle and hunt paintings. Parrocel was born in Paris, and studied under his father, Joseph Parrocel, until his death. Parrocel then became ...

, he was admitted as an ''adémicien'' to the

Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

in 1745. His specialties were battle scenes and

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionar ...

; his most famous of his paintings were those depicting the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's W ...

: especially a series of panoramas tracing the war in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

between 1744 and 1748. The

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

has four of his paintings, ''Prise de Menin'', ''Siège de Fribourg'', ''Siège de Tournai'', and ''Siège de Mons''. He married Marie Charlotte Luillier. Together, they had Pierre Joseph (1752–1758), firstborn, died aged six, and Pierre Charles (1754–1825), designer of Washington, D.C. (capital city of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

). He died in the Gobelins district of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on June 23, 1787.

References

External links

*
Pierre Lenfant
in

Joconde Joconde is the central database created in 1975 and now available online, maintained by the French Ministry of Culture, for objects in the collections of the main French public and private museums listed as ''Musées de France'', according to ...

, a database of French painting. This Wikipedia entry relies heavily on the French Wikipedia entry, which was accessed for translation on November 9, 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:LEnfant, Pierre 1704 births People from Eure-et-Loir 1787 deaths 18th-century French painters French male painters 18th-century French male artists