Painting under Louis XV
The 1730s and the 1740s signalled the arrival of the century's most influential painters, those that best correspond to our idea of artistic sensibility at this time. Boucher was later to become the King's premier peintre and director of the Académie from 1765 to 1770 to be succeeded in both capacities by Pierre in 1770. Natoire had to restrict his ambitions to the post of director of the Académie de France in Rome from 1751 to 1775. But these distinctions were awarded the artists at an advanced stage in their careers and it was in their last years that they faced criticism from the public, a sign that tastes were tending towards an heroic style that was to culminate in neo-classicism.
Not to be missed: L'ambition de Tullie (the abbreviated title of the work) by Dandré-Bardon (1735) a rarely portrayed subject of Roman history seems to have been personally chosen by this artist, an enthusiast of historical accounts.
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