The Present

Louis-Léopold Boilly prints bring the streets, cafés and crowds of Paris across fifty years of French history into your home. Boilly painted the city's middle classes with wit and warmth, made thousands of small portraits, and gave the world the term "trompe-l'œil". Our collection of fine art prints includes his genre scenes, crowd pictures, portraits, caricatures and studies.

About Louis-Léopold Boilly

Louis-Léopold Boilly was born on 5 July 1761 in La Bassée in northern France, the son of a wood sculptor. Largely self-taught, he produced his first works at twelve or thirteen. The Augustinians of Douai admired his work, and the Bishop of Arras invited him to his diocese, where he painted some three hundred small portraits. He learned trompe-l'œil painting from Dominique Doncre and moved to Paris around 1787.

At the height of the Terror in 1794 he was denounced for the erotic undertones of his work, and escaped serious punishment by painting the patriotic Triumph of Marat. His career thrived under the Directory, the Empire and the Restoration. He won a Salon medal in 1804 for The Arrival of a Mail-coach, became one of the first artists to make lithographs, and grew wealthy from the sale of his prints and paintings.

By the end of his life he had painted about 5,000 small portraits, boasting that each took him only two hours. He was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1833 and died in Paris on 4 January 1845. His son Alphonse became an engraver.

Style and Subjects

Boilly's early pictures are small, precise and polished, close to the Dutch genre painters Gerard ter Borch and Gabriël Metsu, whose work he collected. Their subjects are love, flirtation and gentle moral tales.

After 1794 he painted crowded scenes of Parisian life: people at the Louvre, cafés, boulevards, coach yards and festivals, observed with humour and a little sentiment. He was also a master of illusion, painting grisailles that mimic prints and his famous trompe-l'œil of papers under broken glass.

Famous Works

• The Sorrows of Love (about 1790), Wallace Collection, London. A young woman grieving over a love letter, in his polished early style.
• Meeting of Artists in Isabey's Studio (1798), Musée du Louvre, Paris. A group portrait of artists gathered in the studio of the miniaturist Isabey.
• A Girl at a Window (about 1799), National Gallery, London. A young woman at a window, painted to look like a print.
• Un Trompe-l'œil (1800). Overlapping prints and papers under broken glass, the painting that gave us the word trompe-l'œil.
• The Arrival of a Mail-coach in the Courtyard of the Messageries (1803), Musée du Louvre, Paris. Travellers and porters in a busy coach yard, his medal-winning picture.
• The Public Viewing David's Coronation at the Louvre (1810), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A crowd admiring David's huge painting of Napoleon's coronation.
• The Geography Lesson (1812), Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. Monsieur Gaudry and his daughter at a globe.

Decorating with Boilly Prints

Boilly's busy Paris scenes suit living rooms, dining rooms and hallways, where their crowds and stories reward a second look. The Public Viewing David's Coronation is a natural choice for anyone who loves museums, and The Grimaces brings humour to a kitchen or family room.

His small portraits and tender domestic scenes, such as Les Caresses maternelles, fit a bedroom or study, and look best in small gilt frames grouped together.

FAQ

Did Boilly invent the term trompe-l'œil?

Yes. His painting Un Trompe-l'œil, shown at the Salon of 1800, introduced the term, meaning "trick the eye", for realistic images that look three-dimensional.

What did Louis-Léopold Boilly paint?

He painted genre scenes of Parisian middle-class life, crowded street and café scenes, and about 5,000 small portraits.

Was Boilly in trouble during the French Revolution?

In 1794 he was denounced for the erotic undertones of his work. He avoided serious punishment by painting the patriotic Triumph of Marat.

Who influenced Boilly?

His careful, polished style recalls Dutch genre painters such as Gerard ter Borch and Gabriël Metsu, whose work he collected.

Where can I see Boilly's paintings?

Works are in the Louvre and the Musée Carnavalet in Paris, the Wallace Collection and National Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Kimbell Art Museum.

Related Artists

• Gerard ter Borch: Dutch genre painter whose work he collected
• Gabriël Metsu: Dutch genre painter whose style he echoed
• Jean-Baptiste Isabey: the miniaturist whose studio he painted
• Jacques-Louis David: whose Coronation he showed being admired at the Louvre
• Jean-Baptiste Greuze: French painter of sentimental genre scenes of the generation before