Wednesday 5 September 2012

Maurice Quentin de La Tour and Head of A Young Girl

'Head of A Young Girl' (no exact date found; early 18th century) by Maurice Quentin
de La Tour; Musée Antoine Lécuyer, Saint-Quentin

Today's choice was poorly and I had already decided to do a post on Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder but Wikipedia mentions the 9th of September, 1569, as the day of his death. I was confused because there was a couple of sources saying that the day of his death was 5 September 1569 and even some mention that he died between the 5th and the 9th. Anyway, the confusion was short-lived and replaced by a slight annoyance that I had to search for another painter because I want to stick to the Wikipedia date this time. I found French painter Maurice Quentin de La Tour, born on 5 September 1704, but didn't really like his work. He is a Rococo painter and he worked mainly with pastels. Fortunately I found today's painting. It's beautiful in colour and I like the white lacy scarf wrapped around the girl's shoulders. There is actually another pastel portrait that I came across and like so if I wouldn't have chosen 'Head of A Young Girl', I would have used this painting instead. La Tour was one of the most celebrated pastellists of the 18th century and worked as a painter at the court of Louis XV of France. His legacy of many pastels was given to his native city, Saint-Quentin, and is to be seen in Musée Antoine Lécuyer.

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