Pierre L'Enfant (August 26, 1704 – June 23, 1787) was an 18th-century French artist who was known for his battle scene paintings in the court 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 ...

. He was also an instructor at 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 or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, ...

and the father of Pierre Charles, who designed the urban plan for

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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 n ...

on August 26, 1704. After studying under Charles Parrocel, he was admitted as an ''adémicien'' to the

in 1745. His specialties were battle scenes and

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

; 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 fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

, especially a series of panoramas tracing the war in the

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between 1744 and 1748. He married Marie Charlotte Luillier, the daughter of a French military officer. Together, they had three children: Pierre Joseph (1752–1758) and Pierre Charles (1754–1825) and a daughter. L'Enfant was an instructor to his son while he was enrolled in the academy from 1771 to 1776. He died in the Gobelins district of

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 June 23, 1787. L'Enfant left Pierre Charles a farm in Normandy as part of his inheritance, but his son didn't take the necessary steps to officially assume ownership and manage it. The

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

has four of his paintings, '' Prise de Menin'', ''Siège de Fribourg'', '' Siège de Tournai'', and '' Siège de Mons''.

Gallery

File:Pierre_Lenfant_-_La_Bataille_de_Fontenoy,_le_11_mai_1745_(Château_de_Versailles).jpg, Battle of Fontenoy, 1745 File:Battle_of_Fontenoy_1745_1.PNG, Battle of Fontenoy, 1745 File:Battle_of_Lauffeldt.jpg, Battle of Lauffeldt, 1747 File:Pierre_Lenfant,_'Vue_de_Chanteloup_prise_des_portes_de_la_route_d'Espagne'_1762_–_Moreau_2008_p03-1.jpg, Viiew of Chanteloup taken from the gates of the Spanish route. 1762 File:Pierre_Lenfant_-_Study_of_Hands_(recto)_-_1946.447.a_-_Cleveland_Museum_of_Art.tif, Study of Hands, Cleveland Museum of Art File:PLSketch.jpg, Sketch of Man on Horseback, Art Institute of Chicago

References

External links

*
Pierre Lenfant
in

Joconde Joconde is the central database created in 1975 and now available online, maintained by the Minister of Culture (France), French Ministry of Culture, for objects in the collections of the main French public and private museums listed as ''Mus� ...

, 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