JEAN

See also:

• ETIENNE, CHARLES GUILLAUME (1778-1845)

ETIENNE

See also:

• JEAN ETIENNE LIOTARD (1702—1789)

LIOTARD (1702—1789)  , French painter, was born at Geneva . He began his studies under Professor Gardelle and Petitot, whose enamels and miniatures he copied with considerable skill . He went to Paris in 1725, studying under J . B . Masse and F. le Moyne, on whose recommendation he was taken to Naples by the Marquis Puysieux . In 1735 he was in Rome, painting the portraits of Pope Clement XII. and several cardinals . 'Three years later he accompanied Lord Duncannon to Constantinople, whence he went to Vienna in 1742 to paint the portraits of the imperial family . His eccentric adoption of oriental costume secured him the nickname of " the Turkish painter." Stil under distinguished patronage he returned to Paris 1744 visited :'::gland, where he painted the princess of Wales in 1753, ant, went to Holland in 1756, where, in the following year, he married Marie Fargues . Another visit to England followed in 1772, and in the next two years his name figures among the Royal Academy exhibitors . He returned to his native town in 1776 and died at Geneva in 1789 . Liotard was an artist of great versatility, and though his fame depends largely on his graceful and delicate pastel drawings, of which " La Liseuse," the " Chocolate Girl," and " La Belle Lyonnaise " at the Dresden Gallery are delightful examples, he achieved distinction by his enamels, copperplate engravings and glass painting . He also wrote a Treatise on the Art of Painting, and was an expert collector of paintings by the old masters .

Many of the masterpieces he had acquired were sold by him at high prices on his second visit to England . The museums of

Amsterdam, Berne, and Geneva are particularly rich in examples of his paintings and pastel drawings . A picture of a Turk seated is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, while the British Museum owns two of his drawings . The Louvre has, besides twenty-twodrawings, a portrait of General Herault and a portrait of the artist is to be found at the Sala dei pittori, in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence . See La Vie et les oeuvres de Jean Etienne Liotard (1702-1789), etude biographique et iconographique, by E . Humbert, A . Revilliod, and J . W . R . Tilanus (Amsterdam, 1897) .