LARGILLIÈRE, Nicolas de
(b. 1656, Paris, d. 1746, Paris)

Landscape

-
Oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Largillière also painted pure landscapes - or landscapes peopled only by such minute, unimportant figures as can be deciphered, just, in this autumnal woodland Landscape, which looks backward to Rubens and forward to Fragonard. There is real poetry in its vigour, and a delight in the wildness of nature, in towering trees and rich foliage, which makes one regret that this aspect of his art is so rare. Combined with his still-lifes and with the fascinating trompe l'oeil decorations of his own house, it helps to explain contemporary appreciation of him as a 'universal' painter.