la tour maurice quentin de

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Préparation for a Portrait of Louis XV (1710-1774)

Maurice Quentin de La Tour French

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In the age of Enlightenment when the medium of pastel gained immense popularity, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour was perhaps its most gifted practitioner. He was distinguished from his peers by his ability to capture the inner spirit and intellect of his sitters. To achieve this end he developed a method of preparing his works through preliminary studies of the head, seen from different angles and with different expressions. Described by the French term préparation , these rapid drawings in pastel, often done on blue paper, showcase La Tour’s virtuoso talents. This pastel study was made as part of the preparatory process for La Tour’s first portrait commission of king Louis XV, exhibited in the 1745 Salon. This close study of his head was undoubtedly done from life and makes clear the access and time granted to La Tour. The sense of underlying bone structure, and the tone and texture of the complexion are expertly achieved, but most impressive is La Tour’s ability to convey the quality of mind behind the young king’s eyes, projecting an animated and engaged intellect. Perrin Stein, May 2014

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Title: Préparation for a Portrait of Louis XV (1710-1774)

Artist: Maurice Quentin de La Tour (French, Saint-Quentin 1704–1788 Saint-Quentin)

Date: ca.1745

Medium: Pastel on blue paper, arched top

Dimensions: sheet (original sheet): 12 7/8 x 9 7/16 in. (32.7 x 24 cm)

Classification: Drawings

Credit Line: Gift of Mary Tavener Holmes, in honor of Donald Posner, 2005

Accession Number: 2005.66

Learn more about this artwork

Timeline of art history, the eighteenth-century pastel portrait, france, 1600-1800 a.d., museum publications.

"Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2004–2005": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 63, no. 2 (Fall, 2005)

Pastel Portraits: Images of Eighteenth-Century Europe [adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 68, no. 4 (Spring, 2011)]

"A New Preparatory Sketch by Maurice Quentin de La Tour": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 42 (2007)

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Maurice Quentin de La Tour

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Description Maurice Quentin de La Tour

Maurice Quentin de La Tour, born in 1704 in Saint-Quentin, France, emerged as a masterful portraitist during the Rococo era. His life unfolded against the backdrop of Enlightenment ideals, and La Tour's artistic brilliance became a testament to the evolving spirit of his time.

La Tour's journey began with an apprenticeship under his father, a successful portraitist. However, his artistic prowess soon surpassed familial tutelage. Moving to Paris, he studied under the renowned pastel artist Joseph Vivien. La Tour's choice of pastels as his primary medium set him apart, allowing for a delicacy and luminosity that defined his portraiture.

His career took a decisive turn when, in 1737, he painted a portrait of the influential philosopher Voltaire. This marked the beginning of La Tour's ascendancy in the Parisian art scene. His unique ability to capture not only physical likeness but also the essence of his subjects in the play of light and shadow elevated him to prominence.

La Tour's innovation lay in his use of pastels to create striking contrasts and nuanced expressions. His portraits, characterized by a chiaroscuro effect, showcased a keen understanding of psychology and an acute observation of character. His sitters, ranging from nobility to intellectuals, were immortalized with a depth that transcended mere representation.

In 1746, La Tour was granted admission to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, solidifying his status as a master artist. His clientele expanded to include European royalty, and his fame crossed borders.

Despite his success, La Tour was known for his eccentricities. He shunned oil painting, adhering fervently to pastels, and his reclusive nature added an air of mystery to his persona. Yet, this eccentricity contributed to his allure, making him a celebrated and sought-after artist.

La Tour's later years saw a decline in popularity, partly due to changing artistic tastes. However, his legacy endured, influencing future generations of portraitists. His impact on pastel portraiture, characterized by its luminosity and psychological depth, remains a hallmark of the Rococo period.

Maurice Quentin de La Tour passed away in 1788, leaving behind a body of work that encapsulates the elegance and refinement of 18th-century portraiture. His ability to breathe life into the stillness of a portrait, capturing the essence of his subjects in the soft hues of pastels, secured his place as a luminary of the French Rococo movement.

Paintings Maurice Quentin de La Tour

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Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, Henry Dawkins

This is Henry Dawkins II (1727–1814) of Over Norton, Oxfordshire; Standlynch Park, Wiltshire and Portman Square, London. He was a member of the Jamaica Assembly during the years 1752–8, and a member of its Council in 1758–9. His fortune was made through the ownership of slaves. By May 1759 he had left Jamaica for England, where he became a Member of Parliament.

It is likely that this pastel portrait of Dawkins was made in Paris, where the artist was based. The style of Dawkins’s wig and costume are consistent with a date of about 1751. His pose, with one hand tucked inside his waistcoat, was one frequently adopted for half-length portraits in the mid-eighteenth century, particularly by English sitters, to signify manly boldness tempered with modesty.

The relative simplicity of the composition may have been due to the limited time that Dawkins had in Paris. The colours, particularly the crimson of the coat, have faded.

This is Henry Dawkins II (1727–1814) of Over Norton, Oxfordshire; Standlynch Park, Wiltshire and Portman Square, London. He was the third surviving son of Henry Dawkins I (1698–1744) and Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Pennant, Chief Justice of Jamaica.

Henry Dawkins was a member of the Jamaica Assembly during the years 1752–8, and a member of its Council in 1758–9. In 1754 he is recorded as having owned (with his brothers William and James) almost 25,000 acres in Jamaica. The family’s fortune was made through the ownership of slaves. By May 1759 he had left Jamaica for England, where he served at various times as Member of Parliament for Southampton, Chippenham and Hindon.

On 24 November 1760 he married Lady Juliana Colyear, daughter of Charles 2nd Earl of Portmore. The couple had eight sons and four daughters. A group portrait of about 1774 by Richard Brompton of The Family of Henry Dawkins (National Trust, Penryn Castle, Bangor, on loan from C.J. Dawkins) shows Henry and Juliana with nine of their children.

It is likely that this pastel portrait of Dawkins was made in Paris, where the artist was based, although there is no definite record of Dawkins visiting the city. A date of between 1750 and 1752 is likely due to the sitter’s young age. Henry’s elder brother James left England for Rome in 1749 and he certainly travelled via Paris, so it is possible that Henry accompanied him there either on that occasion or during another trip in 1751. The style of Dawkins’s wig and costume are consistent with a date of about 1751. His pose, with one hand tucked inside his waistcoat, was one frequently adopted for half-length portraits in the mid-eighteenth century, particularly by English sitters, to signify what François Nivelon had characterised in his The Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour (London, 1737) as ‘manly boldness tempered with modesty.’

Even during his own lifetime Maurice-Quentin de La Tour was regarded as the greatest pastellist of the eighteenth century. Although born in Picardy, he spent almost his entire career in Paris, dominating the market there for portraits in pastel. His extreme perfectionism often placed him in danger of ruining his portraits by overworking them. The relative simplicity of the composition in this portrait may have been due to the limited time that Dawkins had in Paris. The colours, particularly the crimson of the coat, have faded.

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Maurice Quentin de Latour

• Portrait of Madame Anne-Jeanne Cassanéa de Mondonville, née Boucon (1708-1780), c. 1752 Maurice Quentin de Latour
• Portrait of Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, 1746/47 Maurice Quentin de Latour
• Self-Portrait, c. 1737 Maurice Quentin de Latour
• Portrait of Claude Charles Deschamps, 1779 Maurice Quentin de Latour
• Portrait of M. Louis Silvestre, c. 1753 Maurice Quentin de Latour

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Maurice Quentin de La Tour

Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788) was a French portraitist and pastelist during the Rococo movement.

Maurice Quentin de La Tour Summary:

• Early in his studies, he traveled around France and England before returning to Paris.
• His success as a portraitist has garnered him a list of subjects including writers Rousseau and Voltaire, Louis XV, and his mistress Madame de Pompadour.
• In 1751, he became a councilor of the French Royal Academy.
• He was a portraitist to the King until 1773.
• At the age of 80, La tour retired to his birthplace of Saint-Quentin.

Maurice Quentin de La Tour Famous Paintings:

• Portrait of Louis XV (1748)
• Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (1748)
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (undated)
• Gabriel Bernard de Rieux (1741)
• Jean Le Rond d’Alembert (undated)
• Jean Restout (undated)
• Portrait of Marie Fel (1757)

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Maurice-Quentin de La Tour

Maurice Quentin de La Tour was a French Rococo portraitist who worked primarily with pastels. Among his most famous subjects were Voltaire, Rousseau, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.

He was born in Saint-Quentin, the third son of a musician, François de La Tour, a Laonnois and the son of a master mason, Jean de La Tour of Laon and Saint-Quentin who died in 1674. François de La Tour apparently was successively a trumpet-player for the rifle regiment of the duc du Maine, and musician to the master of the Collegiate Church of Saint-Quentin. He is popularly said to have disapproved of his son taking up the arts, but there is nothing to support that. According to François Marandet in 2002, an apprenticeship was arranged for La Tour with a painter named Dupouch from 12 October 1719, but it is not known when this contract was terminated. Little is known of Quentin de La Tour's background until, when barely nineteen, he went to Paris indefinitely, fleeing an indiscretion concerning his cousin, Anne Bougier; by this age he was claiming painting as his profession. After travelling briefly to England in 1725, he returned to Paris in 1727, where he was encouraged to begin working as a portraitist in pastels. His earliest known portrait, of which only an engraving by Langlois of 1731 is testament, was that of Voltaire.

In 1737 at the Paris Salon, La Tour exhibited the portraits of Madame Boucher, the wife of the painter François Boucher, and l'Auteur qui rit or Self-Portrait, Laughing (musée du Louvre), the first of a splendid series of 150 portraits that served as one of the glories of the Paris Salon for the next 36 years. Nevertheless, the painter Joseph Ducreux claimed to be his only student (although this is unlikely). On 25 May 1737 La Tour was officially recognised (agréé) by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and soon attracted the attention of the French court. According to Jeffares, he had an apartment in the palais du Louvre in 1745, although his portraits for the royal family had ceased by the late 1760s. La Tour was popularly perceived as endowing his sitters with a distinctive charm and intelligence, while his delicate but sure touch with the pastel medium rendered a pleasing softness to their features.

Contemporary accounts describe Quentin de La Tour's nature as lively, good-humoured, but eccentric. In many of his self-portraits he depicts himself smiling out from the frame towards the viewer; Laura Cumming states of La Tour that "where other artists make heavy weather of portraying themselves, he takes the task lightly and seems to have produced more glad-faced self-portraits than any other artist". However, of an excessively nervous disposition (which eventually descended into dementia), and an exacting practitioner, he has also been described as over-engineering his work, to the point of spoiling it.

As La Tour's wealth increased from his commissions, so did his philanthropy; he founded a school for drawing in his native Saint-Quentin and donated towards poor women in confinement, and disabled and ageing artisans and artists. He was also advisor and benefactor to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, and the Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres of Amiens. Eventually confined to his home and the care of his brother, Jean-François, because of encroaching mental illness, he retired at the age of 80 to Saint-Quentin, where he died intestate at the age of 83 (he had revoked earlier wills). Jean-François de La Tour (d. 1807), chevalier de l'ordre royal militaire de Saint-Louis, was the natural heir to his estate.

The musée Antoine Lécuyer in the town of Saint-Quentin is home to many of La Tour's pastels from his own studio; it offers the visitor not only a synthesis of La Tour's life and work but also a selective and concentrated view of French eighteenth century society and costume.

Portrait of Madame Anne-Jeanne Cassanéa de Mondonville, née Boucon (1752)

Pierre-Louis Laideguive (circa 1761)

Claude Dupouch (c. 1739)

Portrait of Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon

Portrait Of Monseigneur Vintimille Du Luc, Archbishop Of Paris

Portrait of a lady wearing a pink dress

Jean Charles Garnier d’Isle (1697–1755) (ca. 1750)

Préparation for a Portrait of Louis XV (1710-1774) (ca.1745)

Portrait of Gabriel Bernard de Rieux (1739–1741)

Portrait de Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle (1684-1761), maréchal de France (1748)

Portrait de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), écrivain et philosophe (1753)

Marie-Sophie de Courcillon, Duchesse de Pecquigny, Princesse de Rohan (1738-1742)

Portrait of Voltaire

Jacques Dumont, called Le Romain (c. 1742)

Portrait of Louis de Silvestre (1753)

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Maurice Quentin de La Tour

Sep 5, 1704 - feb 17, 1788, discover this artist, related works from the web, self-portrait with frill, circa 1750, www.wikidata.org self-portrait with frill, circa 1750 - wikidata, maurice, comte de saxe, marshal of france, www.wikidata.org maurice, comte de saxe, marshal of france - wikidata, bildnis eines sitzenden abbé, www.wikidata.org q111644370 - wikidata, marie-sophie de courcillon, duchesse de pecquigny, princesse de rohan, www.wikidata.org marie-sophie de courcillon, duchesse de pecquigny, princesse de ..., portrait de jean-jacques rousseau (1712-1778), écrivain et philosophe, www.wikidata.org q104372712 - wikidata, more artists, jean-marc nattier, jean-étienne liotard, charles-andré van loo, rosalba carriera, allan ramsay, alexander roslin, more art movements, 3,993 items, renaissance, 14,235 items, more mediums, 31,633 items, 27,059 items, 32,222 items, 11,258 items, watercolor painting, 50,222 items, 13,413 items.