Louis-Léopold BOILLY (French, La Bassée 1761 – 1845 Paris)
Louis-Léopold BOILLY, born July 5, 1761 in La Bassée and died January 4, 1845 in Paris, is a French painter, miniaturist, and engraver, known in particular for his scenes of Parisian life in the years following the Revolution.
Born in a modest environment, son of a wood sculptor, he was brought up in Douai, where he was introduced to painting by Charles-Alexandre-Joseph CAULLET until the age of seventeen. He then studied trompe-l'oeil painting in Arras with Dominique DONCRE before settling in Paris in 1785. In order to live, he became a portrait painter. Between 1789 and 1791, he executed a series of commissions for the Avignon collector Esprit CALVE.
He exhibited for the first time at the Salon of 1791 and became known as much for his portraits and his trompe-l'oeil paintings as for his genre scenes with gallant or saucy themes.
His painstakingly observed and executed paintings reflect all the diversity of urban life, its costumes and customs, between the revolutionary period and the Restoration. They are very appreciated by the public of the Salon, which awarded him a gold medal in 1804. In 1823, BOILLY produced a series of humorous lithographs entitled "Les Grimaces". He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor and became a member of the Institut de France in 1833.
Married in 1787 to Marie-Madeleine DESLIGNE, his three sons, Julien Léopold (1796-1874), Édouard (1799-1854) and Alphonse Léopold (1801-1867), are also painters.
Born in a modest environment, son of a wood sculptor, he was brought up in Douai, where he was introduced to painting by Charles-Alexandre-Joseph CAULLET until the age of seventeen. He then studied trompe-l'oeil painting in Arras with Dominique DONCRE before settling in Paris in 1785. In order to live, he became a portrait painter. Between 1789 and 1791, he executed a series of commissions for the Avignon collector Esprit CALVE.
He exhibited for the first time at the Salon of 1791 and became known as much for his portraits and his trompe-l'oeil paintings as for his genre scenes with gallant or saucy themes.
His painstakingly observed and executed paintings reflect all the diversity of urban life, its costumes and customs, between the revolutionary period and the Restoration. They are very appreciated by the public of the Salon, which awarded him a gold medal in 1804. In 1823, BOILLY produced a series of humorous lithographs entitled "Les Grimaces". He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor and became a member of the Institut de France in 1833.
Married in 1787 to Marie-Madeleine DESLIGNE, his three sons, Julien Léopold (1796-1874), Édouard (1799-1854) and Alphonse Léopold (1801-1867), are also painters.
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