Simon François, called Simon François de Tours or Le petit François, a French painter, was born at

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

1606 Events January–March * January 9 – The Black Nazarene, a statue, arrives in Manila from Mexico. * January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I o ...

. Without the help of a master, he had made some progress in the art, when he went to Italy, where he studied some years. At

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

he became acquainted with

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...

, who made him a present of his

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

, painted by himself. On his return to France he settled 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 ...

, where he painted the portrait of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

as Dauphin, and many other distinguished personages, so much to the satisfaction of the court, that he looked forward with confidence to the acquisition of fortune and fame. In these flattering expectations he was, however, disappointed, for he fell into disgrace, and died in obscurity in Paris in

1671 Events January–March * January 1 – The Criminal Ordinance of 1670, the first attempt at a uniform code of criminal procedure in France, goes into effect after having been passed on August 26, 1670. * January 5 – The ...

. He painted for several churches, and is said to have etched a ''Magdalen in a Cavern,'' and a ''St. Sebastian,'' two plates of a good design and a noble expression.

References

* 1606 births 1671 deaths Artists from Tours, France Painters from Centre-Val de Loire 17th-century French painters French male painters {{France-painter-17thC-stub