Pastellist and portrait painter, born in St Quentin, N France. He settled in Paris, where he became immensely popular, and was made portraitist to Louis XV (175073). His best works include portraits of Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Rousseau.
Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788) was a French portrait painter of the Rococo style, who worked primarily with pastels.
He was born in Saint-Quentin, Aisne, the son of a musician who disapproved of his painting career. At the age of fifteen, La Tour went to Paris where he entered the studio of the Flemish painter Jacques Spoede.
In 1737 La Tour exhibited the first of a splendid series of 150 portraits that served as one of the glories of the Paris Salon for the next 37 years.
In 1746, he was received into the Academie Royale and in 1751 was promoted to councillor. La Tour was made portraitist to the king in 1750, a position he held until 1773, when he suffered a nervous breakdown.
He retired at the age of 80 to Saint-Quentin.
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