Portrait of a Young Man & his Tutor

Oil on canvas
1685

Nicolas de Largillierre

French 1656-1746
“Portrait of a Young Man & His Tutor” (oil on canvas) by Nicolas de Largillierre immediately came to mind my French instructor at Alliance Français.  Like the French instructors at Alliance Français, the tutor looks very capable and effective.
Nicolas de Largilliere was born 10 Oct 1656 in Paris.  He grew up in Antwerp, at the age of 18 left Belgium for England, and became Sir Peter Lely’s assistant painting draperies and still life.  His Flemish training shows the warm hues, broad, thick brushstrokes, and curves that gave his paintings their dynamism.
He returned to Paris in 1682 where he gained membership in the Académie Royale and later became its director.  He worked for Paris’ wealthy middle class.  In his lifetime, he produced between 1,200 and 1,500 portraits, which became less formal and more relaxed in describing pose and costume.  He also produced portraits, landscapes, still life, and religious works.
Jean-Baptiste Oudry, when ordered by his teacher, Largilliere to paint a bouquet of all-white flowers, learned a basic lesson in color.  He carefully observed their subtle variations and then tried to paint them. He came to understand how to express highlights, shades of gray and shadows just like his teacher.
Largilliere donated several small landscape and still life paintings upon his death on March 20, 1746.
A Painter’s Studio

Oil on canvas c. 1800

Louis-Leopold Boilly (5 July 1761 – 4 Jan 1845)

French 1761-1845
As I wandered through the rooms filled with French paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., my eye caught “A Painter’s Studio” (oil on canvas) by Louis-Leopold Boilly.  This is one of his many paintings depicting the social life of the middle class in France.
Born in Douai, northern France on July 5, 1761, Boilly studied painting in the provinces and moved to Paris in 1785 after he was confident of his ability to market his paintings.  His earlier works tended more towards the amorous
and moralizing subjects.  He established a reputation as a painter of slightly naughty images, which were popular with patrons who enjoyed the mischievous.
In 1794, an erotic painting brought accusations of obscenity, which carried the threat of prison.  The Comite de Salut Public condemned Boilly during the Reign of Terror for “erotic undertones” of his work.  The more patriotic “Triumph of Marat” (located at Musée des Beaux-Arts, in Lille) saved him at the 11th hour from the guillotine.
Boilly then returned to painting public scenes depicting the social customs of Parisians at the Salon, on the promenade, and at the billiard table.  He recorded facial details and gestures.  His painting of costumes and textiles are fascinating as a chronicle of fashion.  Often tinged with humor, his paintings and drawings showed witty interpretation of urban life.
By Franklin Garcia