Nicolas de Largillière (; baptised 10 October 1656 – 20 March 1746) was a
French painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
and
draughtsman.
Biography
Early life
Largillière was baptised at the in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
on 10 October 1656. The son of a merchant hatmaker, his family moved to
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
when Largillière was around three years old. Following a trip to London, Largillière's father apprenticed him to the Flemish painter
Anton Goubau.
However, he left at the age of eighteen and again went to England, where he was befriended and employed by
Sir Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 30 November 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. He became a naturalised British subject and was kn ...
for four years at
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is a historic town 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 Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch. The town is situated we ...
. While there, Largillière also worked under the direction of Italian painter
Antonio Verrio.
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 r ...
against
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
alarmed Largillière. He 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 (; ) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James VII and II. A devout Catholic, Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was t ...
, and the prince of Wales
James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs (British political party), Whigs or the King over the Water by Jacobitism, Jacobites, was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of Ki ...
. 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 1686, Largillière produced a portrait of the painter
Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...
for admittance to the
Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture
The Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (; ) was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abolished in 1793 during the French Revolution. I ...
.
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.
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 ...
.
In 1709, Largillière painted the royal family portrait of ''The Family of Louis XIV''. This portrait shows
King Louis XIV, Madame de Ventadour (governess of the children of the Duke of Burgundy), the 3-year old
Louis, Duke of Brittany (1707–1712),
Louis, Grand Dauphin
Louis, Dauphin of France (1 November 1661 – 14 April 1711), commonly known as le 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 ...
and
Louis, Duke of Burgundy
Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy (6 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 is commonly known as le ...
, 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.
Following the death of ''directeur''
Louis de Boullogne on 28 November 1733, the painter
Hyacinthe Rigaud proposed that the four rectors of the Académie, Largillière,
Claude-Guy Hallé,
Guillaume Coustou, and himself, rotate the post. This oligarchy would persist until the election of Coustou as sole director on 5 February 1735. Largillière became director in 1738 and remained in that position until 1742.
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. Largillière also painted the artist
Jacques-Antoine Arlaud 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 in 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 ...
(University of Oxford), the
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, 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 ...
(University of Cambridge), the
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 ...
(New York City), the
Honolulu Museum of Art
The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...
, the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, 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 ...
(Washington D.C.), the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art gallery, art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of A ...
(Kansas City, Missouri), the
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg 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,
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (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 List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...
),
/ref> the Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...
(Detroit) and the Speed Art Museum (Louisville
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
) 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-Cha ...
and Jacob van Schuppen, 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 (; – "the Saxon"; ; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as List of rulers of Saxony, Elector of Saxony i ...
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), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
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
Image:Nicolas de Largillière 002.jpg, Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
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 import ...
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), –1700, 63 × 45 in., Honolulu Museum of Art
The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...
File:María Ana Victoria de Borbón.jpg, Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain
Mariana Victoria of Spain (; 31 March 1718 – 15 January 1781) was an ''Infante, Infanta of Spain'' by birth and was later the List of Portuguese consorts, Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Joseph I of Portugal, Joseph I. She acted as rege ...
, one-time fiancée of Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), 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 reached maturity (then defi ...
File:Anne Geneviève de Lévis par Nicolas de Largillière.jpg, Anne Geneviève de Lévis, ''duchessede Rohan-Rohan'' by marriage and only daughter of Madame de Ventadour
Image:Nicolas de Largillière An Alderman of Paris.JPG, ''An Alderman of Paris'', 1703, oil on canvas, The Detroit Institute of Arts
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), in the 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:Thomas Germain and Anne-Denise Gauchelet by Nicolas de Largillierre (1736).png, Portrait of Thomas Germain 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, San Diego
References
Notes
Citations
Attribution
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Largilliere, Nicolas de
1656 births
1746 deaths
17th-century French painters
18th-century French painters
French male painters
French portrait painters
French Orientalist painters
Painters from Paris
18th-century French male artists
Members of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture
French draughtsmen