ierre Jean-Baptist-Marie
(Paris 1714 - Paris 1789)
A Bacchanale: Naked Nymphs decorating a Herm
Biography
Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman and administrator. He became academician in 1742 and director of the Académie in 1778. He was the First Painter to the Duke of Orléans and in 1770 to the King, replacing Boucher. He was director of the Musée des Gobelins which contains many tapestries made after his cartoons. Although he painted a number of rustic genre scenes and was an occasional designer of vases and picture frames, he was principally active as a painter of large-scale history and religious works. In this aspect of his output he forms a link in the 18th-century tradition of French history painting that runs from Jean Jouvenet to the neo-Classicism of Jacques-Louis David.
Collection
Pierre is represented in the following collections: The Louvre, Paris; Prado Museum, Madrid; Courtauld Institute of Art, London; Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Harvard University Art Museums, Massachusetts; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, amongst others.