Everhard Jabach

In France, during the decades of 1660-80 few painters had devoted themselves exclusively to portraiture, which was considered of secondary importance. The personages of the time liked if possible to be shown in action, for instance as victorious general, or at least surrounded by appropriate and allegorical embellishments. But after about 1685 several important artists appear who specialized in portraiture and who created a new fashion in this field. The essential novelty of their style is the introduction of the technique and patterns of the Flemish school, particularly of van Dyck.

The oldest of these painters was Fran�ois de Troy who was soon outshone by two more brilliant painters of the same generation, Nicolas de Largilli�re and Hyacinthe Rigaud. Many of the works by these two artists belong in spirit and in date to the eighteenth century, but both made important contributions to the development of French painting well before 1700, and they must be considered as helping to create the transition from one century to the other. Both contributed to the elimination of the style of the Grand Si�cle, both belonged to the party of Colour; but in certain other respects they are sharply opposed: in their clent�le, their naturalism, and in their relation to the painting of the Netherlands.