|
 |
Maurice Quentin de la Tour (1704 - 1788)
French pastellist, born 1704 in St. Quentin (Aisne). He received his initial training from engraver Tardieu in Paris, and worked subsequently under the painters Jean Jacques Spoede, Claude Dupouch and Jean Restout. In 1745 he was granted an apartment in the Louvre and in 1746 was accepted as a member of the Royal Academy with a portrait of his teacher Restout. In 1778 La Tour founded a school of drawing in St. Quentin, where he died in 1788.
Around 1724 La tour turned to pastel work, which was enjoyed a renaissance at that time as a result of the work of the Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera. From this time onward he worked exclusively in this technique, achieving virtuosity and broadening the scope of the medium. He rose to become a portraitist to Parisian society and the court, and finally to the king himself. At the height of the Rococo period he discovered the individual as the subject. His veristic portraits represent a striking contrast to the conventional portraiture of the 18th century; the were far ahead of their time. |
|
|
|
