Louis-Léopold Boilly (; 5 July 1761 – 4 January 1845) was a French painter and draftsman. A creator of popular
portrait painting
Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, 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 commissio ...
s, he also produced a vast number of
genre painting
Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...
s documenting French middle-class social life. His life and work spanned the eras of
monarchical France, the
French Revolution, the
Napoleonic Empire, the
Bourbon Restoration and the
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...
. His 1800 painting ''Un Trompe-l'œil'' introduced the term ''
trompe-l'œil
; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...
'' ("trick the eye"), applied to the technique that uses realistic imagery to create the
optical illusion
In visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide varie ...
that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions, though the "unnamed" technique itself had existed in Greek and Roman times.
Life and career
Boilly was born in
La Bassée in northern France,
the son of a local wood sculptor. A self-taught painter, Boilly began his career at a very young age, producing his first works at the age of twelve or thirteen.
In 1774 he began to show his work to the
Augustinians
Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
of
Douai
Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...
who were evidently impressed: within three years, the bishop of
Arras
Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...
invited him to work and study in his diocese. While there, he produced a cascade of paintings – some three hundred small works of portraiture.
He received instruction in ''
trompe-l'œil
; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...
'' painting from (1743–1820) before moving to Paris around 1787.
At the height of the
revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society.
Definition
The term—bot ...
Terror in 1794, Boilly was condemned by the
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...
for the erotic undertones of his work.
This offence was remedied by Boilly's eleventh-hour production of the more patriotic ''Triumph of
Marat'' (now in the
Musée des Beaux Arts,
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
) which saved him from serious penalties.
Boilly was a popular and celebrated painter of his time. He was among the first artists to produce
lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
s, and became wealthy from the sale of his prints and paintings. He was awarded a medal by the Parisian
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
in 1804 for his work ''The Arrival of a Mail-coach in the Courtyard of the Messageries''. In 1833 he was decorated as a ''chevalier'' of the nation's highest order, the
''Légion d'honneur''.
Boilly died in Paris on 4 January 1845.
His youngest son, Alphonse Boilly (1801–1867), was a professional
engraver who apprenticed in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
with
Asher Brown Durand.
Style and works

Boilly's early works showed a preference for amorous and moralising subjects. ''The Suitor's Gift'' is comparable to much of his work in the 1790s. His small-scale paintings with carefully mannered colouring and precise detailing recalled the work of
seventeenth-century Dutch genre painters such as
Gabriël Metsu (1629–1667),
Willem van Mieris and
Gerard ter Borch (1617–1681), of whose work Boilly owned an important collection.
After 1794, Boilly began to produce far more crowded compositions that serve as social chronicles of the urban middle class.
[Taws, Richard (9 May 2019). "At the National Gallery". ''London Review of Books'' 40 (9): 26–27.] In these works, his observation of contemporary customs is slightly sentimental and often humorous.
Boilly was also well respected for his portraiture. By the end of his lifetime he had painted about 5,000 portraits, most of which were painted on canvases measuring 22 cm x 17 cm (8 5/8 in. x 6 5/8 in.).
He worked quickly, and boasted of requiring only two hours to complete a portrait.
He painted both middle class sitters and prominent contemporaries such as
Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fer ...
.
[Chaudonneret, M.arie-Claude (2003, January 01). "Boilly, Louis-Léopold". Grove Art Online.] Boilly's portraits strongly characterize the sitters as individuals, and are usually painted in a sober range of colors.
Boilly used his great skill in depicting textures to produce numerous illusionistic works, including paintings in
grisaille
Grisaille ( or ; , from ''gris'' 'grey') means in general any European painting that is painted in grey.
History
Giotto used grisaille in the lower registers of his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua () and Robert Campin, Jan van Ey ...
that mimic prints.
In the
Salon of 1800 he exhibited a painting that depicted layers of overlapping prints, drawings, and papers, covered by a sheet of broken glass in a wooden frame. His title for the work, ''Un
trompe-l'œil
; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...
'' ("a trick played on the eye"), marked the first use of that term to describe an illusionistic painting. Although art critics derided the painting as a stunt, it caused a popular sensation, and ''trompe-l'œil'' entered the language as a name for an entire genre.
His interest in caricature is most apparent in his suite of 98 lithographs titled ''Recueil de grimaces'', published between 1823 and 1828.
Boilly remains a highly regarded master of
oil painting
Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
. A major exhibition of his work, ''The Art of Louis-Léopold Boilly: Modern Life in Napoleonic France'', travelled to the United States where it was shown at both the
Kimbell Art Museum
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, w ...
in
Fort Worth
Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
and the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art is an 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 charge, the museum was privately established in ...
in
Washington (1995). The
Musée des Beaux Arts in
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
held a large-scale exhibition of Boilly's work during the winter season of 2011–2012.
Gallery
File:Various objects.jpg, ''Various Objects'' (c.1785), Oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 23 3/4 in. (72.4 x 60.3 cm), Clark Art Institute
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
File:Portrait of La Fayette by Louis-Léopold Boilly, 1788.jpg, ''Portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...
'', 1788
File:Lille PBA Boilly autoportrait.jpg, Self-portrait 1793
File:Boilly La Toilette intime ou la Rose effeuillée.jpg, ''La Toilette intime''
File:Lille PBA Boilly robespierre.jpg, ''Portrait of Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fer ...
'', 1791
File:Boilly - Suitor.jpg, ''The Suitor's Gift'', , Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country's national academy of art. It promotes contemporary art, contemporary Scottish art.
The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy ...
File:Louis Léopold Boilly - Portrait of Jan Anthony d'Averhoult (1756-1792) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of Jan Anthony d'Averhoult'', 1792, Centraal Museum
The Centraal Museum is the main museum in Utrecht (city), Utrecht, Netherlands, founded in 1838. The museum has a wide-ranging collection, mainly of works produced locally. The collection of the paintings by the Northern Mannerist Joachim Wte ...
File:Sans-culotte.jpg, '' Simon Chenard as a Sans-Culotte'', 1792
File:Portrait of a Woman MET DP-1419-01.jpg, ''Portrait of a Woman'', Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly (French - Three Young Artists in a Studio - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Three Young Artists in a Studio''
File:Paris art deco boilly houdon.jpg, '' Houdon'',
File:Charles-Louis Havas by Boilly.png, ''Portrait of Charles-Louis Havas
Charles-Louis Havas (; 5 July 1783 – 21 May 1858) was a French writer, translator, and founder of the first news agency Agence Havas (whose descendants are the Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the advertising firm Havas).
Family background
Hi ...
''
File:Louis Léopold Boilly - The Young Harpist - 1977.152 - Yale University Art Gallery.jpg, ''Young Harpist'', c. 1804–1806
File:Boilly L'effet du mélodrame.jpg, ''L'effet du mélodrame'', 1830
File:L-L Boilly Une loge.jpg, ''Une loge'', 1830
File:Louis-Léopold BOILLY, Un trompe-l'oeil avec un chat et une bûche de bois à travers une toile.jpg, ''Trompe-l'œil with a cat and a wooden log through a canvas, fish hanging from the stretcher''
File:"Deux jeunes amies qui s'embrassent" de L.L. Boilly (musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris) (51992741281).jpg, ''Two Young Women Kissing'', 1789-1793
File:Louis Léopold Boilly - Woman Showing Her Portrait - 32.2019.10 - Dallas Museum of Art.jpg, '' Woman Showing Her Portrait'', 1790
File:The Sorrows of Love (painting).png, '' The Sorrows of Love'', 1790
File:Boilly, Louis Léopold - Le Doux Réveil - J 7 - Musée Cognacq-JayFXD.jpg, ''Le Doux Réveil'', 1795
File:The Artist's wife.jpg, ''The Artist's Wife in His Studio'' (c.1795–99), Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 15/16 in. (40.6 x 32.9 cm), Clark Art Institute
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
File:Boilly incroyable parade.jpg, '' Incroyable parade'', 1797
File:Réunion d'artistes dans l'atelier d'Isabey - Louis-Léopold Boilly - Musée du Louvre Peintures RF 1290bis.jpg, '' Meeting of Artists in Isabey's Studio'', 1798
File:Boieldieu.jpg, ''Portrait of François-Adrien Boieldieu'', 1800
Image:Louis-Léopold Boilly 002.jpg, ''The Arrival of a Mail-coach in the Courtyard of the Messageries'', 1803
File:Madame Saint-Ange Chevrier (Louis-Léopold Boilly) - Nationalmuseum - 177754.tif, ''Madame Saint-Ange Chevrier,'' 1807'','' Nationalmuseum
Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm.
The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...
File:Les Papillons).jpg, ''Les Papillons''
File:The Card Sharp on the Boulevard A16552.jpg, '' The Card Sharp on the Boulevard'', 1806
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - Game of Billiards - WGA02350FXD.jpg, '' A Game of Billiards'', 1807
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - The Reading of the Bulletin of the Grand... - 74-1989 - Saint Louis Art Museum.jpg, '' The Reading of the Bulletin of the Grande Armée'', 1807
File:Napoléon remet la Légion d'Honneur à Pierre Cartellier 1808.jpg, ''Napoleon Awarding the Legion of Honour to Pierre Cartellier'', 1808
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - Departure of the Conscripts in 1807 - WGA02349.jpg, '' Departure of the Conscripts'', 1808
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly, The Public Viewing David’s "Coronation" at the Louvre, 1810.jpg, '' The Public Viewing David's 'Coronation' at the Louvre'', 1810
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - The Geography Lesson (Portrait of Monsieur Gaudry and His Daughter) - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Geography Lesson'', 1812
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - The Movings - 1982.494 - Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, '' Moving Day'', 1822
File:Louis Léopold Boilly - Distribution de vin et de comestibles aux Champs-Elysées, à l'occasion de la fête du roi - P1582 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, '' Distribution of Wine and Food on the Champs-Elysées'', 1822
File:Jeux de dames au café Lamblin au Palais-Royal.jpg, ''Checkers at the Lamblin Café in the Palais-Royal'', 1824
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - The Barrel Game.jpg, ''The Barrel Game'', 1828
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - The Poor Cat.jpg, ''The Poor Cat'', 1832
File:Louis-Léopold Boilly - Carnival Scene.jpg, '' A Carnival Scene'', 1832
References
Further reading
*
''Romanticism & the school of nature : nineteenth-century drawings and paintings from the Karen B. Cohen collection''by Colta Feller Ives (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000)
External links
. Careful: all kinds of pop-ups and dead links here.
The Art of Louis-Léopold Boilly
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boilly, Leopold
1761 births
1845 deaths
Artists from Nord (French department)
Painters from Hauts-de-France
French genre painters
French draughtsmen
18th-century French painters
French male painters
19th-century French painters
19th-century French male artists
18th-century French male artists