Louis de Boullogne

Louis de Boullogne (Paris, 1654-1733), also known as Boullogne fils, was a French painter who trained and worked in his native city. His importance lies in his role within academic painting in Paris during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when he became first painter to the king and head of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture.

The son of a painter who trained all four of his children, he was initially discouraged by his father, who feared rivalry with his brother Bon, also a painter, but his vocation prevailed. After winning the grand prix de peinture at eighteen, he went to Rome in 1676, where he copied works by Raphael. Back in Paris in 1680, he was admitted to the Academy in 1681 with the reception piece Augustus Orders the Closing of the Temple of Janus.

His compositions are noted for a sound command of staging, a firm touch and striking colours, and his expressive heads. He worked in easel painting as well as large decorative schemes, producing religious works for Parisian churches and mythological subjects for royal residences, including work at Meudon and Fontainebleau. He often drew in black and white chalk on blue paper. As a committed supporter of the Academy, he opposed the pochades and bambochades. In 1725 he received the title of first painter to the king and letters of nobility. Several engravers reproduced his works, which helped spread his compositions.