Jean-Baptiste Greuze – Apprentice with Charles Grandon and Charles-Joseph Natoire
Jean-Baptiste Greuze was born in Tournus on 21 August 1725. Born into a large family, his father initially wished for him to pursue a career as an architect, but after much struggle, he was able to realise his declared ambition of becoming a painter, probably helped by the early display of his extraordinary talent: It is said that he copied an engraving so precisely at the age of eight that it was no longer possible to distinguish it from the original. In Lyon, Jean-Baptiste Greuze became an apprentice to the portrait painter Charles Grandon. His relationship with his father, a roofer, remained difficult throughout his life, as Greuze was ashamed of his humble origins. He disguised his father's profession as that of an architect and gave himself a double-barreled name - he was actually simply called Jean Greuze. He had no need to be ashamed of his talent, however, which prompted his impressed teacher Grandon to recommend him for the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, where his main teacher was the Rococo master Charles-Joseph Natoire.
Great artistic success in the 1750s
Jean-Baptiste Greuze asked Louis de Silvestre - a drawing teacher at the French royal court - in vain for a similar position. Louis Gougenot made it possible for Jean-Baptiste Greuze to travel to Italy to study, but the influence of the Italian masters on the Frenchman's art is disputed by scholars. The sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle arranged for Greuze's provisional admission to the Academy in 1755, although the artist did not deliver his official acceptance painting until 1768 after numerous admonitions and a delay of more than ten years - by this time Greuze's star was already waning and the work met with little acclaim. Jean-Baptiste Greuze's proven proximity to the Rococo, which was also due to his teacher Natoire, increasingly proved to be a burden for him, as it no longer corresponded to the taste of his time. Although he was open and favourably disposed towards the ideas of Denis Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, he never went beyond the conventions of the bourgeois milieu in his imagery.
Private and economic difficulties in the last third of his life
In 1759, Jean-Baptiste Greuze married Anne-Gabrielle Babuti, who came from a wealthy family. The marriage was initially happy, but in later years the artist suffered increasingly from his wife's extravagance and infidelity - divorce was ultimately unavoidable. Their daughter Anna Greuze later also became a painter. Because the artist himself, like many of his contemporaries, had speculated with assignats, the hapless revolutionary currency, he was left with nothing. Greuze's initial enthusiasm for the French Revolution suddenly waned and he had to earn his living as a painting and drawing teacher. His most famous pupil, the highly talented Constance Mayer, switched to Greuze's fiercest adversary and rival, Pierre Paul Prud'hon, in 1798. Shortly before his death, Jean-Baptiste Greuze endeavoured in vain to gain recognition from the new rulers with a painting of Napoleon.
Jean-Baptiste Greuze died in Paris on 21 March 1805, completely impoverished and almost unnoticed. From his numerous earlier friends, Jean Simon Berthelemy and Jacques Dumong were the only ones to pay their respects.
Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
