Nicolas Lancret

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Nicolas Lancret
Lancret (self-portrait)
Born(1690-01-22)22 January 1690
Paris, France
Died(1743-09-14)14 September 1743
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Known forPainting

Nicolas Lancret (22 January 1690 – 14 September 1743) was a

King Louis XV
.

Marie-Anne de Camargo
(a famous dancer), 1730

Career

Lancret's first master was

Pierre d'Ulin, but his acquaintance with and admiration for Watteau induced him to leave Ulin for Gillot, whose pupil Watteau had been.[1] Lancret, who remained a pupil of Gillot from 1712–1713, was heavily influenced by the older painter, whose typical slender figures can be found in many of his pupil's younger works. Two pictures painted by Lancret and exhibited on the Place Dauphine had a great success, which laid the foundation of his fortune, and, it is said, estranged Watteau, who had been complimented as their author. In 1718 he was received as an Academician, from thereon becoming a very respected artist, especially amongst the admirers of Watteau. He completed works to decorate the Palace of Versailles, while his style was later to prove popular with Frederick the Great. Lancret's popularity was reflected by the decision to make him a councillor at the Academie in 1735.[2]

Work, style and legacy

Le Déjeuner de jambon, Chantilly, musée Condé, 1735

Lancret completed numerous paintings, a significant proportion of which (over eighty) were engraved. Although he completed several portraits and historical pieces his favourite subjects were balls, fairs, village weddings and so forth. In this respect he was typical of Rococo artists. Some have claimed Lancret's work is significantly inferior to that of Watteau. In drawing and in painting his touch is often considered intelligent but dry; art historian Michael Levey remarked that Lancret was 'no poet but a charming essayist'.[2] Lancret's characteristics are due possibly to the fact that he had been for some time in training under an engraver.

It is generally considered

The National Gallery, is considered by Levey to be his 'masterpiece'. The scene, which depicts a family taking coffee, has an intimacy and hint of humour that are considered captivating. The work's flowing lines, Rococoesque harmony of pastel colours, painterly style and charming subject matter (of a wide eyed young girl, surrounded by her happy family and natural, yet un-threatening setting, trying her first taste of coffee) are seen[2] to display a delicate sense of vitality and freshness that anticipate the works of both Thomas Gainsborough and Jean-Honoré Fragonard.[2]

The

National Gallery, London
, shows four paintings—the "Four Ages of Man" (engraved by Desplaces and l'Armessin), cited by d'Argenville amongst the principal works of Lancret.

Personal life

Lancret was single for much of his life; however in 1741 he married the 18-year-old grandchild of Boursault, author of Aesop at Court. Supposedly Lancret was induced to marry her after finding her and her dying mother living in poverty in an attic room and hearing that the daughter was soon to be compelled to enter a convent. Lancret died of pneumonia on 14 September 1743.

Gallery

  • La Servante justifiée, 1735-1740
    La Servante justifiée, 1735-1740
  • Le jeu des quatre-coins
    Le jeu des quatre-coins
  • Fastening the Skate, Nationalmuseum, 1743
    Fastening the Skate, Nationalmuseum, 1743

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lancret, Nicolas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 153.
  • See d'Argenville, Vies des peintres; and Ballot de Sovot, Éloge de M. Lancret (1743, new ed. 1874).
  1. ISBN 9781848220430
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f Michael Levey. Painting and Sculpture in France, 1700-1789. Yale University Press.

Further reading

General studies

Adapted from: Freitag, Wolfgang M. (1997) [1985]. Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists (2nd ed.). New York, London: Garland. p. 212, entries nos. 6415–6418.

ISBN 0-8240-3326-4
.

Reference works

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nicolas Lancret.
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