Nicolas De Largilliere Biography
Nicolas de Largillière or de Largillière (Paris, 10 October 1656 – Paris, 20 March 1746) was a French painter. Raised in Antwerp, where his family moved in 1659, it was in the Flemish city that he began his apprenticeship in the workshop of Antoine Goubeau starting in 1668, influenced above all by Rubens and the Flemish masters. He entered the Sint-Lucasgilde guild as city master in 1674. From 1675 to 1679 he traveled to England, where he became close to the Vandyckian painter Peter Lely and was noticed by King Charles II. He returned 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 commissions of votive offerings or allegories, and for portrait commissions from the nobility and upper class. Nicolas de Largillière was, together with Rigaud, the portraitist of the Regency era. He also proved to be a brilliant painter of still lifes, following the Flemish school. He combined the solemnity of the gesture of the person portrayed with an uncommon search for minute details. In 1686 he was admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, becoming professor in 1705 and directing it from 1736 to his resignation in 1743. Among his most important works we can mention: Elizabeth Beaubarnais (Grenoble Museum); 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 family (Louvre Museum).
