Maurice Quentin de La Tour

Maurice Quentin de La Tour, and Delatour, ( born September 5, 1704 Saint- Quentin, † February 17, 1788 ) was a pastel portrait painter of the French Rococo.

Famous are, inter alia, his portraits of King Louis XV. , Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, Jean -Jacques Rousseau and d' Alembert.

Life

Thanks to the painter Rosalba Carriera stay the Italian, 1720/1721 in Paris, pastel painting gained great popularity again. De La Tour 1719 studied for three years at a small academy in Paris, before he started his own business. He learned the painter Louis Boullogne and Jean Restout know, in particular Restout exerted a great influence on him. 1735 gave him a portrait of Voltaire general recognition. As a result, he painted several portraits of Louis XV. and his family and was next to Jean -Marc Nattier one of the favorite court painter. Soon he was known as Prince of pastellistes, " Prince of pastel painter". 1750 he was appointed consultant at the Royal Academy of Arts. From 1750 to 1773 he was also a court painter to the French king. As the most important precursor de La Tour Joseph Vivien applies.

His students included Joseph Boze (1745-1826), Jacques Neilson (1714-1788), the Scottish Katherine Wheel (1723-1779) and especially Adélaïde Labille - Guiard ( 1749-1803 ).

Works

His paintings are among other things in the Louvre ( Madame Pompadour ) and the Musée Antoine Lécuyer in Saint -Quentin, which owns the most important collection of his pastels.

Later honors

• The French National Bank issued in the years from 1976 to 1992 50 -franc banknotes in his portrait.