Louis de Boullogne
Encyclopedia
Life
The brother of Bon BoullogneBon Boullogne
Bon Boullogne was a French painter.-Biography:Boullogne was born in Paris, a son of the painter Louis Boullogne; he was regarded as the most gifted of his children. He took his first lessons from his father, whom he is thought to have assisted in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre...
, their father Louis Boullogne
Louis Boullogne
Louis Boullogne , known as Louis le père, was a French painter.-Life:After spending some years in Italy, Boullogne set up in Paris and made a major contribution to the organisation of the Académie de peinture, where he was a professor until his death.He was talented as a copyist and many anecdotes...
feared rivalry between the two brothers if Louis the younger also became a painter and so at first opposed his wish to become a painter. However, his vocation finally won through and every evening Louis crossed Paris to go with Bon to draw at the Académie. Aged 18 he won the grand prix de peinture
Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...
and left for Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1676, when his brother returned from there. He made copies after The School of Athens
The School of Athens
The School of Athens, or in Italian, is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the , in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican...
, Disputation of the Holy Sacrament
Disputation of the Holy Sacrament
The Disputation of the Sacrament , or Disputa, is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1510 as only the first part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms that are now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in...
and many other works by Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, from which the Gobelins
Gobelins manufactory
The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France, at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near the Les Gobelins métro station in the XIIIe arrondissement...
made many different tapisteries for the French king.
Returning through Lombardy and Venice in 1680, Louis returned to Paris and soon won a great reputation. In 1681 he was received as a member of the Académie : his reception piece showed Augustus closing the doors to the temple of Janus, after the battle of Actium
Battle of Actium
The Battle of Actium was the decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic. It was fought between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC, on the Ionian Sea near the city of Actium, at the Roman...
. On 3 February 1688 he married Marguerite Bacquet. In 1722, he was chosen to design the medals and mottos for the Académie des inscriptions, receiving a new 1,000 livres pension and the ordre de Saint-Michel. In 1723, he was made rector of the Académie ; in 1724, first painter to the king, with letters patent of nobility for him and his descendents; and, in 1725, director of the Académie, offices he held until his death. His students included Cornical, Galloche
Louis Galloche
Louis Galloche was a French painter. A student of Louis de Boullogne, his own students included François Lemoyne, Charles-Joseph Natoire and François Boucher.-Life:...
and Courtin. A strong supporter of the Académie, Louis de Boullogne supported its students with his lessons and his protection. He was the sworn enemy of the pochades and bambochades, claiming that only those with great skill and a fully formed taste could be allowed to paint.
Louis Boullogne was buried at Saint-Eustache, parish of his birth. He left a vast fortune to four children he had had with Bacquet - two sons (the eldest was councilor to the parlement de Metz, then conseiller d'État
Conseiller d'État
A French Councillor of State is a high-level government official of administrative law in the Council of State of France.-Under the Old Regime:...
and an intendant des finances
Intendant des finances
The Intendants des finances were intendants or agents of France's financial administration under the Ancien Régime.-History:The role of intendant des finances was created in 1552 as a 'commission' or committee, to manage the subsidies raised for the 'trip to Germany', though these commissaires were...
et ordres du roi, and the younger receiver general of finances for Tours) and two daughters (of which one married Jean-Pierre Richarol, receiver general of finances, with whom she had the painter Jean-Claude Richard
Jean-Claude Richard
Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non was a French painter and engraver.-Family background and history:His family estate, from which he derives his full title, is The Château de Saint-Nom. It is located in the village of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche in Yvelines, France...
, and the other became a nun).
Works
DupuisCharles Dupuis (engraver)
Charles Dupuis was a French engraver, who engraved many of the paintings from the galleries at Versailles and the Palais-Royal. He was elected a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1730...
, Poilly, Desplaces, Dupuis
Charles Dupuis (engraver)
Charles Dupuis was a French engraver, who engraved many of the paintings from the galleries at Versailles and the Palais-Royal. He was elected a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1730...
, Drevet le fils, Baudet
Étienne Baudet
Étienne Baudet, an eminent French engraver, was born at Vineuil, in the department of Loir-et-Cher, about 1636. He was a pupil of Sébastien Bourdon and Cornelis Bloemaert, and afterwards went to Rome, and appears to have adopted the manner of Cornelis Bloemaert in his earliest plates, which are...
, etc., reproduced many of his works as engravings.