Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Harvard, London, by 1960.

Connoisseur, November 1961;
S. Paviére, Jean Baptiste Monnoyer 1634-1699, Leigh-on-Sea 1966, p. 24, cat. no. 111, illustrated in color on frontispiece.

Monnoyer was born in Lille in 1636.  He may have spent some time in Antwerp before establishing himself at an early age in Paris, where he became a member of the Academy.  He gained the support and friendship of the painter Charles Le Brun and was employed by him to contribute to the decoration of the Royal residences at Vincennes, Trianon, Meudon and Marly.  In addition, some sixty of his paintings adorned the palace at Versailles.  Owners of the finest private homes, such as the Hôtel Lambert, were also enthusiastic patrons.  Through the patronage of Ralph, 1st Duke of Montague, and English Ambassador to Louis XIV, Monnoyer's fame spread to England where he collaborated on the decoration of Montague House.  Monnoyer spent the last decade of his life living and working in England for such notable patrons as Queen Mary, the Duke of St. Albans and the Earl of Carlisle.