Jean-Marc Nattier French painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, was born in Paris, the second son of Marc Nattier (1642–1705), a portrait painter, and of Marie Courtois

Marie Courtois

Marie Courtois, a French miniature painter of consideiable ability, was a pupil of Le Brun. She was born about the year 1655, married in 1675 Marc Nattier, the portrait painter, and died in Paris in 1703.-References:...

 (1655–1703), a miniaturist. He is noted for his portraits of the ladies of King Louis XV's court in classical mythological attire.

He received his first instruction from his father, and from his uncle, the history painter Jean Jouvenet (1644–1717). He enrolled in the Royal Academy

Académie de peinture et de sculpture

The Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture , Paris, was founded in 1648, modelled on Italian examples, such as the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Paris already had the Académie de Saint-Luc, which was a city artist guild like any other Guild of Saint Luke...

 in 1703 and made a series of drawing of the Marie de Médicis painting cycle

Marie de' Medici cycle

The Marie de' Medici Cycle is a series of twenty-four paintings by Peter Paul Rubens commissioned by Marie de' Medici, wife of Henry IV of France, for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Rubens received the commission in the autumn of 1621...

 by Peter Paul Rubens in the Luxembourg Palace

Luxembourg Palace

The Luxembourg Palace in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, north of the Luxembourg Garden , is the seat of the French Senate.The formal Luxembourg Garden presents a 25-hectare green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and provided with large basins of water where children sail model...

; the publication (1710) of engravings based on these drawings made Nattier famous. He had applied himself to copying pictures at the Luxembourg Gallery, he refused to proceed to the French Academy in Rome

French Academy in Rome

The French Academy in Rome is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio in Rome, Italy.-History:...

, though he had taken the first prize at the Paris Academy at the age of fifteen. In 1715 he went to Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, where Peter the Great

Peter I of Russia

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...

 was then staying, and painted portraits of the tsar and the empress Catherine

Catherine I of Russia

Catherine I , the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death.-Life as a peasant woman:The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm her origins. Born on...

, but declined an offer to go to Russia.

Nattier aspired to be a history painter. Between 1715 and 1720 he devoted himself to compositions like the "Battle of Pultawa"

Battle of Poltava

The Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 was the decisive victory of Peter I of Russia over the Swedish forces under Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld in one of the battles of the Great Northern War. It is widely believed to have been the beginning of Sweden's decline as a Great Power; the...

, which he painted for Peter the Great, and the "Petrification of Phineus

Phineus

Phineus may refer to:* Phineus, killed by Perseus. See Andromeda * Blind King Phineus or Phineas of Thrace, visited by Jason and the Argonauts* Phineas Nigellus, a deceased headmaster in the Harry Potter universe...

 and of his Companions", which led to his election to the Academy. The financial collapse of 1720 caused by the schemes of Law

John Law (economist)

John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade...

 all but ruined Nattier, who found himself forced to devote his whole energy to portraiture, which was more lucrative. He became the painter of the artificial ladies of Louis XV

Louis XV of France

Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

's court. He subsequently revived the genre of the allegorical portrait, in which a living person is depicted as a Greco-Roman goddess or other mythological figure.

Nattier's graceful and charming portraits of court ladies in this mode were very fashionable, partly because he could beautify a sitter while also retaining her likeness. The most notable examples of his straightforward portraiture are the "Marie Leczinska" at the Dijon Museum

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon is a museum of fine arts opened in 1787 in Dijon, France. It is housed in the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy in the historic center of Dijon.- Artworks :The Musée include a large and varied collection of art:...

, and a group of the artist surrounded by his family,"The Artist Surrounded by His Family", dated 1730. He died in Paris in 1766.

Many of his pictures are in the public collections of France. Thus at the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

 is his "Magdalen"; at Nantes the portrait of "La Camargo

Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo

Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo sometimes known simply as La Gorda Camargo, was a French/Belgian dancer...

" and "A Lady of the Court of Louis XV". At Orléans a "Head of a Young Girl", at Marseilles a portrait of "Mme de Pompadour

Madame de Pompadour

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...

", at Perpignan

Perpignan

-Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the...

 a portrait of Louis XV, and at Valenciennes a portrait of "Le Duc de Boufflers

Louis François, duc de Boufflers

Louis François, Duc de Boufflers, Comte de Cagny was a Marshal of France....

". The Versailles Museum owns an important group of two ladies, and the Dresden Gallery a portrait of the "Maréchal de Saxe". At the Wallace collection Nattier is represented by "The comtesse de Tillières" (formerly known as "Portrait of a Lady in Blue"), "Mademoiselle de Clermont en sultane", and "The marquise de Belestat". In the early part of the 20th century in the collection of Mr Lionel Phillips were the duchess of Flavacourt

Diane-Adélaïde de Mailly

Diane Adélaïde de Mailly, duchesse de Lauraguais was the third of the five famous de Nesle sisters, four of whom would become the mistress of King Louis XV of France.- Early life, family and marriage :...

 as "Le Silence", and the duchess of Châteauroux

Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle duchess de Châteauroux

Marie Anne de Mailly, duchesse de Châteauroux was the youngest and prettiest of the five famous de Nesle sisters, four of whom would become the mistress of King Louis XV of France....

 as "Le Point du jour" (now at Marseilles). A portrait of the Comtesse de Neubourg and her Daughter formed part of the Vaile Collection, and realized 4500 guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

s at the sale of this collection in 1903. Nattier's works have been engraved by Alphonse Leroy, Tardieu

Pierre Alexandre Tardieu

Pierre Alexandre Tardieu was a French engraver. He was a member of the Institut de France, the Saint Petersburg Academy and the Academy of Milan. His students included Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers...

, Jean Audran (1667–1756), Dupin and many other noted craftsmen. The Getty Museum has "Madame Bonier de la Mosson as Diana", 1742. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has "Madame de Maison-Rouge as Diana", 1756.

See "J. M. Nattier", by Paul Mantz, in the Gazette des beaux-arts (1894); Life of Nattier, by his daughter, Madame Tocqué; Nattier by Pierre de Nolhac

Pierre de Nolhac

Pierre Girault de Nolhac , known as Pierre de Nolhac, was a French historian, art historian and poet.- Life :...

 (1904, revised 1910); and French Painters of the XVIIIth Century, by Lady Dilke (London, 1899).