LOUIS - JEAN - FRANCOIS LAGRENEE
Paris 1725 - Paris 1805
Born in Paris, Lagrenée began his career as a pupil of Carle van Loo and by 1749 had won the prestigious Prix de Rome with Joseph recounting his dreams to the Pharaoh (now lost). After four years at the French Academy in Rome, he returned to Paris and was received into the Académie de Peinture et Sculpture in 1755 with the Rape of Deianeira. His reputation grew quickly, and in 1760 he was called to St. Petersburg as First Painter to the Empress Elizabeth and Director of the painting academy. Three years later he returned to Paris, where, through the Salons, he won the admiration and patronage of Diderot who wrote favorably of him. In France his work played an important role in the transition from Rococo to neo-classicism. Our Venus and Nymphs Bathing is neo-classical in its precise line, cool colors and refined, smooth brush strokes, typical of the artist in the 1770s. He rejected naturalism, and sought to produce compositions in which figures could enact the narrative through expressive gesture.
