The White Hat

Jean-Baptiste Greuze prints bring the moral stories, family dramas and soft, wistful portraits of 18th-century France into your home. Greuze was a hugely popular painter of genre scenes and heads of young women, championed by the writer Denis Diderot. Our collection of fine art prints covers his genre scenes, portraits of girls and children, famous sitters and drawings.

About Jean-Baptiste Greuze

Jean-Baptiste Greuze was born in Tournus, in Burgundy, on 21 August 1725. His father opposed his wish to paint, but the Lyon portraitist Grandon persuaded the father to let him go to Lyon as his pupil, and later took him to Paris. There Greuze studied from the life model at the Royal Academy school.

His first picture, A Father Explaining the Bible to His Children, caused some to doubt it was his own work, but further pictures proved his talent. His Blind Man Deceived of 1755 won him provisional membership of the Academy, and later that year he travelled to Italy. Back in Paris he exhibited with growing success at the Salons of 1759, 1761 and 1763, reaching his height in 1765, praised above all by Diderot.

Wanting to be accepted as a history painter, he submitted a classical history subject in 1769, but the Academy admitted him only as a genre painter. Offended, he stopped exhibiting there until 1804. He fell into poverty in later life and died at the Louvre in Paris in March 1805.

Style and Subjects

Greuze's genre scenes tell moral stories of family life, such as a father's curse, a village wedding or a broken pitcher, with expressive faces and theatrical gestures, painted to move the viewer. Diderot saw in them the domestic drama he wanted to bring to the stage.

His heads of young women and children, often with soft, glowing skin, tousled hair and a sentimental or wistful expression, were extremely popular, and his portraits capture sitters with warmth and directness.

Famous Works

• Reading the Bible (1755), Louvre, Paris. A father reads to his family, the picture that launched his career.
• The Lazy Boy (1755), Musée Fabre, Montpellier. A sleepy schoolboy, an early genre subject.
• Broken Eggs (1756), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A girl and her broken eggs, a scene full of hidden meaning.
• The Laundress (1761), J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. A young laundress pausing at her work.
• The Village Bride (1761), Louvre, Paris. A father giving his daughter's dowry, his great Salon success.
• The Broken Mirror (1763), Wallace Collection, London. A young woman distressed at a broken mirror.
• The Broken Pitcher (1771), Louvre, Paris. A girl with a cracked jug, one of his most famous images.
• The Father's Curse: The Ungrateful Son (1777), Louvre, Paris. A family drama of a son leaving home.

Decorating with Greuze Prints

Greuze's soft portraits of girls and children, like Girl in a White Dress, suit a bedroom, nursery or sitting room, and look lovely with French-style furniture and pastel colours.

His genre scenes make thoughtful talking points in a library or dining room, and his portraits of famous sitters such as Mozart or the Comtesse du Barry suit a study.

FAQ

Who was Jean-Baptiste Greuze?

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725–1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes and history, famous for moralising scenes of family life and tender heads of young women.

What is Greuze's most famous painting?

The Village Bride (1761), The Broken Pitcher (1771) and Broken Eggs (1756) are among his best-known works.

What did Diderot think of Greuze?

The writer and critic Denis Diderot admired him greatly and saw his paintings of domestic drama as achieving what Diderot himself tried to do in his plays.

Where can I see Greuze's paintings?

The Louvre holds many of his major works. Others are in the Wallace Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Museum and the Musée Fabre in Montpellier.

Related Artists

• Jean-Honoré Fragonard: French painter of the same era
• François Boucher: leading Rococo painter of the generation before
• Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun: portraitist of young women in the next generation