Robert Tournières
Encyclopedia
Robert Le Vrac de Tournières (17 June 1667, Caen
- 18 May 1752) was a French painter. After the Second World War, a street in the new Saint-Paul district of his birthplace of Caen was named rue Robert Tournières.
and Rigaud
, Tournières was notable for being received twice into the Académie royale de peinture - first in 1702 as a portrait painter, with his portraits of the painters Pierre Mosnier and Michel Corneille; and then on 24 October 1716, as a history painter, with his Invention of drawing (1716), showing a pair of lovers lit by a single candle. Promoted to professeur auxiliaire in 1737, he exhibited successfully at the 1742 salon.
His œuvre's heterogenous nature is typical of an artist of the transitional period of the French Regency - the Dutch elements give his work a new and more intimate character, while the lightness of his palette prefigures the rococo
style. He produced large-scale paintings of which all trace is lost and small paintings in which he distinguished himself were preoccupied with Godfried Schalken and Gerard Dou
, of whom he had made a special study. These are now dispersed, if not entirely lost.
With a talent for painting and portraying faces, Tournières enjoyed a great reputation during his lifetime. He left a considerable number of portraits which are mostly in notable collections. He showed a delicate colouring, a perfect talent for pose and positioning, a certain elegance in drapery. He was, according to an eminent critic, an artist who was more careful than powerful and, unable to be accounted as being in the first rank of portraitists, he still won an honourable place among them.
Returning to his birthplace in 1749, he stopped painting. His father, an engraver by trade, had married a widow who had a son, who was François Lemoyne
.
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
- 18 May 1752) was a French painter. After the Second World War, a street in the new Saint-Paul district of his birthplace of Caen was named rue Robert Tournières.
Life
Studying under Lucas Delahaye, then under 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...
and Rigaud
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Hyacinthe Rigaud was a French baroque painter of Catalan origin whose career was based in Paris.He is renowned for his portrait paintings of Louis XIV, the royalty and nobility of Europe, and members of their courts and considered one of the most notable French portraitists of the classical period...
, Tournières was notable for being received twice into the Académie royale de peinture - first in 1702 as a portrait painter, with his portraits of the painters Pierre Mosnier and Michel Corneille; and then on 24 October 1716, as a history painter, with his Invention of drawing (1716), showing a pair of lovers lit by a single candle. Promoted to professeur auxiliaire in 1737, he exhibited successfully at the 1742 salon.
His œuvre's heterogenous nature is typical of an artist of the transitional period of the French Regency - the Dutch elements give his work a new and more intimate character, while the lightness of his palette prefigures the rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
style. He produced large-scale paintings of which all trace is lost and small paintings in which he distinguished himself were preoccupied with Godfried Schalken and Gerard Dou
Gerard Dou
Gerrit Dou , also known as Gerard and Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly-polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders...
, of whom he had made a special study. These are now dispersed, if not entirely lost.
With a talent for painting and portraying faces, Tournières enjoyed a great reputation during his lifetime. He left a considerable number of portraits which are mostly in notable collections. He showed a delicate colouring, a perfect talent for pose and positioning, a certain elegance in drapery. He was, according to an eminent critic, an artist who was more careful than powerful and, unable to be accounted as being in the first rank of portraitists, he still won an honourable place among them.
Returning to his birthplace in 1749, he stopped painting. His father, an engraver by trade, had married a widow who had a son, who was François Lemoyne
François Lemoyne
François Lemoyne or François Le Moine was a French rococo painter.He was born in Paris. In 1701, when he was 13 years old, he entered the Académie de peinture et de sculpture. He studied under Louis Galloche and stayed until 1713. In 1711, Lemoyne won the Prix de Rome...
.
Works
- Allegory of autumn, Rouen, musée des beaux-artsMusée des Beaux-Arts de RouenThe musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen is an art museum in Rouen, northern France. Founded in 1801 by Napoleon I, its current building was built between 1880 and 1888 and completely renovated in 1994...
- Allegory of summer, Rouen, musée des beaux-arts
- Colbert de Torcy (1665–1746), Versailles, musée national du château et des Trianons
- Dibutade drawing the portrait of her lover by lamplight, or the Invention of Drawing, Paris ; École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
- Family in a landscape, Nantes, musée des beaux-arts
- The Ham Lunch, Versailles, musée Lambinet
- The Sculptor Brodon, Caen, musée des beaux-artsMusée des Beaux-Arts de CaenThe Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen is a fine arts museum in the French city of Caen, founded at the start of the 19th century and rebuilt in 1971 within the ducal château.-Opening :...
- Louis Phelypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, chancelier de France (1643–1727), Versailles, musée national du château et des Trianons
- Michel Corneille the elder (1642–1708), Versailles, musée national du château et des Trianons
- Moise saved from the river, Caen, musée des beaux-arts
- Pierre Mosnier or Monnier (1641–1703), Versailles, musée national du château et des Trianons
- Portrait of an old man, Paris, musée du Louvre département des Peintures
- Portrait of a rector of a university, disappeared
- Portrait of a family in a landscape, Nantes, musée des beaux-artsMusée des Beaux-Arts de NantesThe Fine arts Museum of Nantes is an art museum in Nantes, France.The museum was created in 1801 with the purchase of the Cacault collection and was located in is actual Palais des Beaux-Arts since 1900....
- Portrait of Charles de la Boische, marquis de Beauharnais, gouvernor of Canada ; Portrait of a man decorated with a cordon rouge (old title), Grenoble, Museum of GrenobleMuseum of GrenobleThe Museum of Grenoble is a city museum of Fine Arts and antiques in the city of Grenoble in France.Located on the left bank of the Isère, place Lavalette, it is known both for its collections of ancient art for its collections of modern and contemporary art..-History:The Museum of Grenoble was...
- Portrait of a family in a salon, Nantes, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of a woman with her left hand on a chest, Rouen, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of the goldsmith Nicolas de Launay and his family, Caen, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of the Maupertuis family, Nantes, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of Louis Henri De Bourbon, prince de Condé (1621–1686) , sometimes called the maréchal de Berwick, Rennes, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of Pontchartrain, Rennes, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of Voltaire, Rouen, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of the chancelier d’Aguesseau, Rouen, musée des beaux-arts
- Portrait of chancellor Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, Dijon, musée des beaux-artsMusée des Beaux-Arts de DijonThe 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:...
- Portrait of the engraver Audran, Caen, musée des beaux-arts
- 3/4 length portrait of chancellor of Aguesseau, Rouen, musée des beaux-arts
- Presumed portrait of Maria Sybilla Merian, Caen, musée des beaux-arts
- Supposed portrait of monsieur de Saint-Cannat and his children, Marseille, musée des beaux-arts
- Boar head with dogs, Fontainebleau, musée national du château
Sources
- Olivier Merson, La Peinture française au XVIIe et au XVIIIe, Paris, Alcide Picard & Kaan, [S.d.], p. 218-20.
- Raphael Pinset, Histoire du portrait en France, Paris, A. Qantin, 1884, p. 149.