- Jean-Étienne Liotard
Jean-Étienne Liotard (born 1702 at
Geneva ; died 1789 inGeneva ) was aSwiss-French painter. His father was a jeweller who fled to Switzerland after 1685.He began his studies under Professor
Gardelle andPetitot , whose enamels andminiature s he copied with considerable skill. He went to Paris in 1725, studying underJ. B. Masse andFrançois Lemoyne , on whose recommendation he was taken toNaples by theMarquis Puysieux . In 1735 he was inRome , painting the portraits ofPope Clement XII and several cardinals. Three years later he accompaniedLord Duncannon toConstantinople . His eccentric adoption of oriental costume secured him the nickname of the Turkish painter. He went toVienna in 1742 to paint the portraits of the imperial family. Still under distinguished patronage he returned to Paris. In 1744 he visitedEngland , where he painted theprincess of Wales in 1753, and went toHolland in 1756, where, in the following year, he married Marie Fargues. She also came from aHugenot family, and wanted him to shave off his beard. Another visit to England followed in 1772, and in the next two years his name figures among theRoyal Academy exhibitors. He returned to his native town in 1776. In 1781 Liotard published his "Traité des principes et des règles de la peinture". In his last days he painted still lifes and landscapes. He died at Geneva in 1789.Liotard was an artist of great versatility, and though his fame depends largely on his graceful and delicate
pastel drawings, of which "La Liseuse", "The Chocolate Girl ", and "La Belle Lyonnaise" at theDresden Gallery are delightful examples, he achieved distinction by his enamels, copperplateengraving s and glass painting. He also wrote a "Treatise on the Art of Painting", and was an expert collector of paintings by the old masters. Many of the masterpieces he had acquired were sold by him at high prices on his second visit to England. The museums ofAmsterdam ,Berne , andGeneva are particularly rich in examples of his paintings and pastel drawings. A picture of a Turk seated is at theVictoria and Albert Museum , while theBritish Museum owns two of his drawings. TheLouvre has, besides twenty-two drawings, a portrait of Lieutenant General Hrault and a portrait of the artist is to be found at theSala di pittori , in theUffizi Gallery ,Florence . While his son also married a dutch girl, theRijksmuseum inherited an important collection of his drawings and paintings.External links
* [http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_assets/SK-A-239?lang=en&context_space=&context_id= Some paintings of Liotard in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum]
* [http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/l/p-liotard5.htm Liotard on a Danish website]
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/09/euwc/ho_2000.7.htm Liotard in the Metropolitan Museum of Art]
* [http://www.pastellists.com Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, online edition]References
*1911
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