Carle van Loo Biography

Carle or Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765) was a French painter, son of painter Louis-Abraham van Loo, younger brother of Jean-Baptiste van Loo, and grandson of Jacob van Loo. He was the most famous member of a successful dynasty of painters of Dutch origin. His oeuvre includes every category: religion, history painting, mythology, portraiture, allegory, and genre scenes.

He was born in Nice on 15th February 1705, then part of the Savoyard state. Van Loo followed his brother Jean-Baptiste to Turin, and then to Rome in 1712, where he studied under Benedetto Luti and the sculptor Pierre Le Gros. After leaving Italy in 1723, he worked in Paris, studied at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, where he gained first prize for drawing in 1723, and received the first prize for historical painting in 1727, as did his future rival François Boucher. In 1724 he won the Prix de Rome.

After again visiting Turin in 1727, he was employed by King Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia, for whom he painted a series of subjects illustrative of Torquato Tasso. In 1734 he settled in Paris, and in 1735 became a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and rose rapidly in the hierarchy of the academy. Madame de Pompadour and the French court took the artist under their patronage. He was decorated with the Order of Saint Michael and named First Painter to King Louis XV in 1762. He was a most successful court painter but his portraits as well as history paintings also enjoyed enormous success throughout all Europe. He died in Paris on 15 July 1765.

His Marriage of the Virgin is preserved in the Louvre.