Painter of Kings and Fair Women: Pastel Portraits by Jean-Etienne Lyotard

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Not many painters turn to pastels for a number of technical reasons. However, in the history of painting there was a master virtuoso, in whose hands the pastel seemed to come to life and become a bright and malleable pictorial means. The name of this artist - Jean-Etienne Lyotard, who created his unique works almost 300 years ago. His pastel portraits still amaze and delight the public to this day. And, apparently, that is why the entire elite of Europe stood in line to see the artist - from monarchs to the first beauties and representatives of the enlightened intelligentsia.

Several pages from the life of the painter

Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789), was born in Geneva in 1702 and was the thirteenth child in the family of Anne and Antoine Lyotard. His parents, being Protestants, immigrated from France to Switzerland for religious reasons even before he was born. In Geneva, thanks to the jewelry craft, his father began to prosper well and was able to provide his children with a decent education. And it should be noted that from some sources it is known that Jean-Etienne had a twin brother - Jean-Michel, or perhaps just an older brother, who later also became an artist, but did not have such overwhelming success.

Ironically, the future artist had to master the basics of fine art in France, in the homeland of his parents. Young Lyotard went there in 1725, and spent about three years studying with the engraver and miniaturist Massé. After Paris there were Rome, Venice, Amsterdam, everywhere the young artist got acquainted with the works of old masters, studied everything new and was looking for his own unique style. It was in Italy that Jean discovered pastel, which became his favorite technique and made him famous throughout Europe. By the way, this pictorial medium was very common among European artists in the 18th century, despite the complexity of storage.

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The talented young artist argued that it was this pictorial material that most naturally conveys color and subtle transitions of chiaroscuro and colorful halftones. And over time, having mastered this technique to perfection, he became the most popular painter of his time.

The main direction of his work, the painter chose the genre of pastel portrait, which became his hallmark. Although the artist's heritage includes paintings of the historical genre. And what is interesting, he created his painting not only in the pastel technique, Lyotard sometimes used chalk, paints, and enamel in his work. At the same time, he always managed to find something new, revealing the image of each of his models. From the memoirs of contemporaries: "He watched how others do, and … did everything in his own way." It was this feature that allowed the painter to develop originality and taste in his skill. Lyotard has always strived for independence and uniqueness, both in life and in art.

It was not for nothing that the image of the artist himself was so colorful that it aroused genuine interest in those around him. This can be judged by the numerous self-portraits of Lyotard, in which the artist portrayed himself smiling, sometimes with a chipped mouth, wrapped in Turkish clothes or in high fur hats. Among other things, the audience was struck by his beard, resembling a huge nest, which he wore from his youth until his marriage. And the painter married, at the age of 54, to a woman much younger than himself. She then made me shave her famous beard. It should be noted that this fact was very strange. Biographers wondered how a devout Dutch woman of mediocre appearance from a poor family, for which Lyotard hardly had lofty feelings, was able to convince the artist to cut off a colorful beard. Indeed, for many years it has been the artist's "trademark".

Once one English critic once remarked with caustic sarcasm that it was the beard that was the real measure of the artist's success, and in this, of course, there was, of course, some truth. Largely thanks to his self-portraits, Jean-Etienne Lyotard gained fame and popularity for himself.

For 35 years of married life, the Lyotard couple had five children. And all these years, the already elderly artist had to work tirelessly to feed a large family.

The last years of his life he spent in a small town near Geneva. It was in those years that he painted still lifes, for which later collectors and famous galleries would literally wage a tough fight.

Painter of the European elite of the 18th century

It so happened by fate that the life of a Swiss artist consisted of happy accidents and circumstances, which the master, gifted in addition to artistic talent with a practical mind and charisma, skillfully used.

Lyotard had to spend many years of his life in wanderings, during which he visited many cities and countries. He traveled as a companion for noble persons. By the way, in that era, artists quite often had to accompany influential persons in order to capture important events in their lives. Many were willing to pay huge sums of money for this.

So, his most regular client was the Empress Maria Theresa in Vienna. The artist painted portraits of her children on translucent paper, achieving exceptional accuracy in reproducing the model and an unusual, delicate shine: the appearance of each child seemed to shine through the permanent. The Empress did not part with these portraits, taking them with her even on her travels. In many ways, this contributed to the spread of fame about the artist throughout Europe.

During his creative career, the master painted a huge number of portraits of prominent people of that distant era. Everyone was delighted with his portraits, in which there was an amazing similarity of faces, completeness in the image of clothing and jewelry, as well as the maximum color that could be achieved by working with pastels.

Namely, thanks to the realism and accuracy in his work, the artist gained European fame and acquired high patrons. He received a warm welcome at many royal houses, and at the Pope in Rome, and at the Turkish Sultan in Constantinople. Having visited Turkey, the artist returned from there not only even more famous, but also outwardly transformed. In Europe, he will begin to be called "Turk" because of the Turkish clothes that the artist wore until the end of his days and his beard.

Read about the most famous painting of the Swiss artist, to create which the artist was inspired by an amazing love story, in the review. The mystery of the famous "Chocolate Girl" Lyotard: the story of Cinderella or the predatory hunter for the princely title?