René-Antoine Houasse (1645-1710) is surely the King’s painter. Noticed after his apprenticeship at Nicolas de Plattemontgne, by the First painer of the King Charles Le Burn, he intervenes especially on the big constructions sites of the reign of Louis XIV : At the Tuileries, in Versailles (Grand Appartement du roi, escalier des Ambassadeurs et galeries des Glaces) and at the Marble Trianon. He executes also numerous tapestry cartoons for the Gobelins’s manufacture. His exemplary official career, from his reception to the Royal Academy (1673) to his directorship of the Academy of France to Rome (1699-1704) must not cast a shadow on his artistic path illustrated by the great designs of royal houses, as well as his masterpiece, Iris and Morphée. The singular and virtuous palette of this subject of the Métamorphoses d’Ovide and his proximity with the Endymion from Girodet or the Narcisse from Guérin — painted one century and a half later — sparked a new interest from the public in the 1960s for this forgotted painter. Houasse is also the author of one of the most famous and projected equestrian portraits of Louis XIV.

Matthieu Lett

Number of pages: 304 pages
Release Date: May 2020
Dimensions: 24 x 32 cm
Language : French
ISBN: 978-2-903239-65-7