Biography

French painter. He was taught by his father, Louis Boullogne the Elder, together with his brother Louis Boullogne Younger, and his sisters Geneviève (1645-1708) and Madeleine (1646-1710). Louis the Elder took part in the decoration of the Louvre and Versailles. He was one of the fourteen founders of the Painting Academy and gave his children a solid traditional formation.

Bon was long regarded as the most gifted of the children of Louis Boullogne the Elder. He is thought to have assisted his father in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. Through his father, who presented a half-length figure of St John by Bon to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Contrôleur Général des Finances, he was sent to the Académie de France in Rome as a Pensionnaire du Roi. In this capacity, he made copies of famous works, in particular some frescoes by Raphael in the Vatican Loggie, intended for reproduction as Gobelins tapestries. He completed his training in Lombardy where he studied the paintings of Correggio and the Carracci, as well as those of Guido Reni, Domenichino and Albani.

Bon's paintings, especially his mythological works, show great affinities with the work of the Bolognese school. He was also influenced by northern art, as seen in his portraits framed by plant-like motifs.

His pupils were Robert Tournières, Jean Raoux, Jean-Baptiste Santerre, Nicolas Bertin, Pierre-Jacques Cazes, François Hutin, Sébastien Leclerc II, Charles Parrocel, Louis de Silvestre.