(circle of) Nicolas de Largillierre

"Mme de Noirmont", Oil on Canvas Portrait, circa 18th Century

c. 18th Century

Nicolas de Largillière or de Largillierre (Paris, 10 October 1656 - Paris, 20 March 1746) was a French painter. Raised in Antwerp, where his family had moved in 1659, it was in the Flemish city that he began his apprenticeship in the workshop of Antoine Goubeau starting in 1668, mainly influenced by Rubens and the Flemish masters. [He entered the guild of the Sint-Lucasgilde as master of the city in 1674. From 1675 to 1679 he traveled to England, where he approached the Vandyckian painter Peter Lely and was noticed by King Charles II. He will return there in 1685 to paint a portrait of the new King James II. Returning to France, after 1689 he became one of the most sought-after painters, both for official ex-votos or allegories, and for orders of portraits by the nobility and the upper middle class. Nicolas de Largillière was, together with Rigaud, the portrait painter of the Regency era. He also proved to be a brilliant painter of still lifes, following the Flemish school. To the solemnity of the gesture of the person portrayed he combined an uncommon search for minute details. In 1686 he was admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, becoming a professor in 1705 and directing it from 1736 to his resignation in 1743. Among his most important works we can mention: Portrait of Elizabeth Beaubarnais (Museum of Grenoble); Young Man as Diana (Louvre Museum); Ex-voto in Sainte-Geneviève (church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, Paris); Family portrait of Louis XIV (Wallace Collection); Portrait with the family (Louvre Museum).