French Baroque Era Painter , b. 1612, Troyes, d. 1695, Paris called "Le Romain" to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas, was a French painter. He was born at Troyes, and came of a family of artists; he also needs to be distinguished from his nephew Pierre (1640-1725), often called "Pierre II" or "Le Chevalier". In 1630 he left the studio of Simon Vouet for Italy, where he spent twenty-two years, and made a reputation which brought him a summons to Paris. Successful with his portrait of the king, and in favour with the court, Mignard pitted himself against Le Brun, declined to enter the Academy of which he was the head, and made himself the centre of opposition to its authority. The history of this struggle is most important, because it was identical, as long as it lasted, with that between the old gilds of France and the new body which Colbert, for political reasons, was determined to support. Portrait of Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of PortsmouthShut out, in spite of the deserved success of his decorations of the cupola of Val de Grace (1664), from any great share in those public works, the control of which was the attribute of the new Academy, Mignard was chiefly active in portraiture. Turenne, Moliere, Bossuet, Maintenon (Louvre), La Valliere, Sevigne, Montespan, Descartes (Castle Howard), all the beauties and celebrities of his day, sat to him. His readiness and skill, his happy instinct for grace of arrangement,   Related Paintings of MIGNARD, Pierre :. | The Heavenly Glory | Clio | Girl Blowing Soap Bubbles | The Marquise de Seignelay and Two of her Children | The Virgin of the Grapes |
Related Artists:
Adolf Fenyes
1867-1945 Adolf Fenyes Locations
Broederlam, Melchoir
Flemish, active 1381-1409
Christian Daniel Rauch
1777 Arolsen-1857 Dresden,was a German sculptor. Rauch was born at Arolsen in the Principality of Waldeck. His parents were poor and unable to place him under efficient masters. His first instructor taught him little else than the art of sculpting gravestones, and Professor Ruhl of Kassel could not give him much more. A wider field of improvement opened up before him when he removed to Berlin in 1797; but he was obliged to earn a livelihood by becoming a royal lackey, and to practise his art in spare hours. Queen Louisa of Prussia, surprising him one day in the act of modeling her features in wax, sent him to study at the Academy of Art. Not long afterwards, in 1804, Count Sandrecky gave Rauch the means to complete his education at Rome, where Wilhelm von Humboldt, Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen befriended him. Among other works, he executed bas-reliefs of "Hippolytus and Phaedra," "Mars and Venus wounded by Diomede," and a "Child praying." In 1811 Rauch was commissioned to execute a monument for Queen Louisa of Prussia.