Paris 1696-1772  Related Paintings of Louis Tocque :. | Madame Dange wife of General Francois Balthazar Dange du Fay (mk05) | Portrait of Marie Leszczynska Queen of France | Portrait of Louis Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orleans and Duc de Chartres | Portrait of mademoiselle de Coislin | Queen of France |
Related Artists:
Girolamo di Benvenuto
Siena 1470-ca 1524
Clare George
British 1860-1900
LA TOUR, Maurice Quentin de
French Rococo Era Painter, 1704-1788 French pastellist. He was one of the greatest pastellists of the 18th century, an equal of Jean-Simeon Chardin and Jean-Baptiste Perronneau. Unlike them, however, he painted no works in oils. Reacting against the stately portraits of preceding generations and against the mythological portraits of many of his contemporaries, La Tour returned to a more realistic and sober style of work. The fundamental quality of his art lies in his ability to suggest the temperament and psychology of his subjects by means of their facial expression, and thereby to translate their fugitive emotions on to paper: 'I penetrate into the depths of my subjects without their knowing it, and capture them whole', as he himself put it. His considerable success led to commissions from the royal family, the court, the rich bourgeoisie and from literary, artistic and theatrical circles.