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Historical Artist - Joseph Ducreux (1735 - 1802)
Joseph Ducreux studied with his father before moving to Paris in 1760 to train under the
pastelist, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour. He specialized in portraiture and was also influenced by
Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s oil painting technique. In 1769, he received a commission to travel
to Vienna and paint a miniature portrait of Louis XVI’s wife, Marie-Antionette. Impressed
by his skill, Ducreux was made a baron and the First Painter to the Queen. In the 1870’s,
he began painting self-portraits. He avoided the French Revolution by moving to London where he
began making engravings of his self-portraits. Ducreux returned to Paris in 1793 and made the
acquaintance of Jacques-Louis David. Ducreux specialized in portrait painting, and his early
portraits were done in pastel, and include those done of the connoisseurs Pierre-Jean Mariette,
the Comte de Caylus and Ange-Laurent de la Live de July. Ducreux also made several well-known
self-portraits in the late 1780s, including one in which he painted himself in the middle of a
large yawn (which currently hangs in the Getty Center), and another of himself guffawing and
pointing at the viewer. As evidenced by these self-portraits, Ducreux attempted to break free
from the constraints of traditional portraiture. Interested in physiognomy, which is based on
the belief that the study and judgment of a person's outer appearance, primarily the face,
reflects their character or personality, Ducreux attempted to capture the personality of his
subjects –as well as his own- through his warm and individualistic works.
Contemporary French Artists
Art Galleries in France
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