François Lemoyne

Francois Lemoyne
circa 1730
Born	1688 Paris, France
Died	4 June 1737(1737-06-04) (aged 48–49)
Nationality	French
Education	Académie de peinture et de sculpture
Known for	Painting
Movement	rococo

François Lemoyne or François Le Moine (1688 – 4 June 1737) was a French rococo painter. He became First Painter to the King and worked with other artists of the era. However, the excess of work, court intrigues at Versailles, and the death of his wife drove him to madness. He committed suicide in Paris in 1737 by stabbing himself seven times, six months after finishing the ceiling painting "The Apotheosis of Hercules" in the Hercules Room in the Great Apartment of the King. With his death, the fashion of large allegorical ceilings disappeared.

Works

• Louis XV donnant la Paix à l'Europe, Salon de la Paix in Versailles (1727)
• Ceiling of the Salon d'Hercule in Versailles (1736)
• Arch of the Church of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin in Paris
• Diane chasseresse (Diana as a huntress)
• Les Nymphes
• Narcisse
• He also worked at Saint-Sulpice and at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Gallery

• 

  Narcisse (1728)

• 

  Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy (1737) Completed on the day before the artist’s suicide.

References

• Cours sur la peinture du XVIII^e, 2006, Université Nancy 2
• Xavier Salmon : François Lemoyne à Versailles, Gourcuff, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-909838-57-9