VAN LOO, CHARLES-ANDR

born Feb. 15, 1705, Nice, Fr. died July 15, 1765, Paris also called Carle Van Loo, Van Loo also spelled Vanloo Rococo painter especially known for his elegant portraits of European royalty and fashionable society in the mid-18th century. He belonged to a noted family of artists of Flemish origin. His elder brother, Jean-Baptiste Van Loo, brought him up, taught him his profession, and took him to Rome. They returned to Paris, where in 1724 they won first prize in the French Royal Academy competition. Van Loo went back to Rome in 1727 and was awarded various distinctions. On his way home to Paris he stopped in Turin and painted works for the king of Sardinia's palaces. After his return to Paris in 1734, he became a professor at the Academy in 1737 and in 1763 was elected director. Van Loo was appointed first painter to the king and shared with Franois Boucher the favour of Paris society and foreign courts. Mme de Pompadour commissioned him to work for her at her chteau at Bellevue. Van Loo was acknowledged to be the leading painter of historical and religious subjects in France during the Rococo period. Though versatile in style and technically facile, he was not particularly original. His precise, detailed genre scenes, somewhat reminiscent of Nicolas Lancret, influenced many painters, notably Johann Heinrich Tischbein.