"He is no longer satisfied with painting a perfect
likeness; he knows how to animate his portraits and make them come to life
like no one before him," exclaimed a contemporary about celebrated pastelist
Maurice-Quentin Delatour. The son of a musician who disapproved of painting
as a career, Delatour ran away from home at age fifteen. He studied in Paris
with a Flemish painter and painted portraits in England, then returned to
Paris in the mid-1720s. Encountering the new vogue for pastels, he became
a pastelist.
Delatour exhibited at the Salon from 1738 to 1763 without interruption. He became a member of the Academie Royale in 1746 and portraitist to the king in 1750. His vivacious, penetrating portraits were commissioned by royalty, upper middle class, and leading personalities in the arts, sciences, and letters. A technical virtuoso, Delatour experimented with fixatives in the hope of giving pastels the permanence of oils. Late in life, Delatour founded an art school and several charitable organizations. He spent his last years confined to his house due to mental illness. His rivals in pastels included Jean-Baptiste Perroneau and Jean-Etienne Liotard, but Joseph Ducreux was his only pupil.
Delatour exhibited at the Salon from 1738 to 1763 without interruption. He became a member of the Academie Royale in 1746 and portraitist to the king in 1750. His vivacious, penetrating portraits were commissioned by royalty, upper middle class, and leading personalities in the arts, sciences, and letters. A technical virtuoso, Delatour experimented with fixatives in the hope of giving pastels the permanence of oils. Late in life, Delatour founded an art school and several charitable organizations. He spent his last years confined to his house due to mental illness. His rivals in pastels included Jean-Baptiste Perroneau and Jean-Etienne Liotard, but Joseph Ducreux was his only pupil.
