Nicolas de Largillière

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Nicolas de Largillière" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Nicolas de Largillière
Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture
In office 1733–1735[a]
Monarch	Louis XV
Preceded by	Louis de Boullogne
Succeeded by	Guillaume Coustou
In office 1738–1742
Preceded by	Guillaume Coustou
Succeeded by	René Frémin

Nicolas de Largillière (French: [nikɔla də laʁʒijiɛʁ]; baptised 10 October 1656 – 20 March 1746) was a French painter and draughtsman.

Biography

Early life

Largillière was baptised at the Church of Saint-Barthélemy [fr] in Paris on 10 October 1656.^[1] The son of a merchant hatmaker, his family moved to Antwerp when Largillière was around three years old. Following a trip to London, Largillière's father apprenticed him to the Flemish painter Anton Goubau.^[2] However, he left at the age of eighteen and again went to England, where he was befriended and employed by Sir Peter Lely for four years at Windsor, Berkshire.^[3] While there, Largillière also worked under the direction of Italian painter Antonio Verrio.^[2]

Painting career

Early career

His painting caught the attention of

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, and the prince of Wales James Francis Edward Stuart. 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 for admittance to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture.^[4] 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.

In 1709, Largillière painted the royal family portrait of The Family of Louis XIV. This portrait shows

, 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.^[5][6] This oligarchy would persist until the election of Coustou as sole director on 5 February 1735.^[7] Largillière became director in 1738 and remained in that position until 1742.^[8]

Later career

François Chereau

(1715).

Musée du Louvre

)

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

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

) are among the public collections holding works by Nicolas de Largillière.

Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Jacob van Schuppen, Largillière's pupil and nephew respectively, were also rococo painters.

Gallery

• 
  Portrait of Elizabeth Throckmorton
• 
  Portrait of Augustus III of Poland
• 
  Portrait of Louise-Madeleine Bertin, Countess of Montchal
• 
  Portrait of a Man in a Purple Robe
• 
  Portrait of Voltaire
• 
  Self-portrait with family
• 
  Portrait of Marguerite de Sève
• 
  La belle Strasbourgeoise

  (1703)
• 
  Portrait of Marguerite Bécaille
• 
  Portrait of Pierre-Joseph Titon de Cogny
• 
  Portrait of Jeanne-Cécile Le Guay de Montgermon
• 
  Portrait of Catherine Coustard with her son Léonor,

  Minneapolis Institute of Arts
• 
  Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
• 
  Portrait of an officer, oil on canvas, 1714–15, Art Gallery of New South Wales
• 
  Oil on canvas portrait of Helene Lambert de Thorigny by Nicolas de Largillière (portrait) and Jean-Baptiste Belin (flowers), c. 1696–1700, 63 × 45 in., Honolulu Museum of Art
• 
  Infanta

  Louis XV
• 
  Anne Geneviève de Lévis, duchessede Rohan-Rohan by marriage and only daughter of Madame de Ventadour
• 
  An Alderman of Paris, 1703, oil on canvas,

  The Detroit Institute of Arts
• 
  Portrait of a lady with a dog and a monkey (1700–1710)
• 
  André François Alloys de Theys d'Herculais (1692–1779)
• 
  Portrait of Thomas Germain and his wife Anne-Denise Gauchelet in 1736
• 
  Portrait of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil, 1729, Timken Museum of Art, San Diego

References

Notes

Citations

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Largillière, Nicolas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Further reading

Brême, Dominique (2003). Nicolas de Largillierre, 1656–1746 (in French). Paris: Musée Jacquemart-André.

ISBN 978-2914498128

.

Rosenfeld, Myra Nan (1982). Largillierre and the Eighteenth-Century Portrait. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

ISBN 978-2891920056

.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nicolas de Largillière.