Nicolas Lancret, French painter, representative of the Rococo style of art. He was strongly influenced by Antoine Watteau. In 1719 he was accepted as a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture as a “master of gallant subjects”. Lancret painted “gallant scenes”, landscapes, genre and theatrical compositions, portraits in the spirit of the Rococo era, distinguished by an exquisite, somewhat faded color scheme, a decorative, soft painting style.

The artist also turns to the depiction of theatrical scenes taken from plays and productions of 18th century playwrights, such as Dancourt or Marivaux. Lancret is a unique and subtle painter. He perfectly mastered the art of constructing a group of figures and combining several groups into a single harmonious whole.

Lancret’s role in the development of the genre of “gallant celebration” is great. The artist outlived his teachers and rivals, so his influence was more lasting. In addition, Lancret did much to spread French taste in Europe. In the 18th century, Lancret’s paintings were collected not only by Parisian connoisseurs, but also by Frederick II, who sought to reproduce the lifestyle of the French court in the Sanssouci Palace, the Russian Empress Catherine II, and the English aristocrat Sir Richard Wallace. Lancret’s paintings still retain their fragile charm, reminding us of one of the most brilliant periods in the culture and history of France.

Nicolas Lancret loved the theater and often visited the Parisian “Opera” and “Comédie Française”, where the artist met the brilliant ballerina Camargo and Mademoiselle de Sallier, with whom Lancret later had very close ties and whose magnificent portraits he painted.

An old and confirmed bachelor of fifty, Lancret began to often meet a young girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old at the stairs of his house. Having learned that this girl lived in poverty with her mother, who was terminally ill, Lancret decided to visit them. The artist knocked on the door of the attic in a nearby house, which was opened by a girl wiping away tears; her mother was dying. The noble woman, struck down by illness, said to Lancret: “I do not ask for alms, I ask you to help me preserve the honor of my daughter by revealing the name of her father and presenting proof of her origin.

This is necessary for my daughter, otherwise she will go to a monastery. If you help me, then I can die in peace.” Lancret promised. Soon the girl’s mother actually died. The shocked Lancret began to make inquiries and discovered that the girl was the granddaughter of the famous writer Boursault, author of dramas and comedies, including the literary work “Aesop in Court”. In 1741, Lancret married Boursault’s granddaughter. The marriage to Marie de Boursault was short-lived, and Lancret died two years later of pneumonia; he died in Paris on 14 September 1743.