About the Artist

As a child, Nicolas de Largilliere (1656 Paris - 1746 Paris) moved with his parents to Antwerp, where he became a pupil of the still life and genre painter Antoine Goubau at the tender age of 12. In Antwerp, Largilliere also studied the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens, Anthonis van Dyck, and other Flemish artists of the 17th century. In 1672 he entered the Atwerp St. Luke's Guild, and from 1674 to 1682 lived in London, where he worked with Sir Pieter Lely. Upon his return from England he moved to Paris and in the same year was accepted into the Academie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture for his portrait of Charles Le Brun. Largilliere produced individual still lifes and history paintings as well as large group portraits commissioned by the Paris magistrates and numerous single portraits. Along with Hyacinthe Rigaud, he stands as one of the most respected French portraitists of his time. His works include Charles Le Brun, c. 1682, Musee du Louvre, Paris, A Beauty of Strassbourg, 1703, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Strassbourg; and Self-Portrait with Wife and Daughter, c. 1715, Musee du Louvre, Paris.