Biography

François Lemoyne (or Lemoine), French painter. He was one of the leading decorative artists of the day, continuing the grand tradition of Le Brun but adapting it to the lighter taste of the court of Louis XV, to whom he became official painter in 1736. Much of his work can be seen at Versailles, notably in the Salon d'Hercule. He was a man of wide pictorial culture, learning from Rubens in his use of colour and from Bolognese painters in his clarity and grace of drawing. The easy fluency of his style belies his disturbed personality; he committed suicide a few hours after completing Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy (Wallace Collection, London, 1737).