The directory «Artists»

Boilly Louis-Leopold
(1761—1845)

Born on 5 July 1761 in La Bassee, near Lute, the son of a woodcarver. Self-taught, he practised in Douai and Arras before coming to Paris in 1785. He exhibited at the Salon between 1791 (when it was first opened to non academiciens) and 1824. His earlier subjects of bourgeois galanterie, such as those commissioned by Calvet de Lapalun 1789-1792, were denounced to the Societe republicaine des Arts in 1794 and he immediately painted Le tiomphe de Marat (Lille) and turned to the illustration of Parisian life. His carefully finished, small paintings recall the Dutch fijnschilders, such as Dou, ter Borch and Mieris, and his talent for trompe l'oeil subjects brought him popular acclaim in the Salon. He published a set of humorous lithographs, Les grimaces, in 1823. He was made chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1833, but his work fell out of fashion after the Restoration. He died in Paris on 4 January 1845.

Malta, 1998, Napoleon