NATOIRE, Charles-Joseph - b. 1700 Nimes, d. 1777 Castel Gandolfo - WGA

NATOIRE, Charles-Joseph

(b. 1700 Nimes, d. 1777 Castel Gandolfo)

French painter, draughtsman and teacher, active also in Italy. An exact contemporary of François Boucher, he was a painter of cabinet pictures, decorations and tapestry cartoons and one of the most adept practitioners of Rococo art in 18th-century France. The greater part of his career was spent in Paris, where he received important commissions from Louis XV as well as from private patrons. In 1751 he accepted the post of Director of the Académie de France in Rome. From then on he devoted himself to his teaching duties at the expense of his painting. He remained in Rome for the rest of his life.

Cupid Sharpening an Arrow

Send Postcard Learn More

The Expulsion from Paradise

This picture must have been intended by Natoire as a tribute to Fran�ois Lemoyne. It was a pendant to a painting by Lemoyne, depicting Adam receiving the forbidden fruit from Eve in the Garden of Eden (private collection). Around 1721, both Natoire and Lemoyne were in the studio of the academician Lemoyne.

Send Postcard Learn More

The Story of Psyche

In 1732, the prince de Rohan commissioned Gabriel Germain Boffrand (1667-1754) to design a new room in the H�tel de Soubise. This room became known as the Salon Ovale de la Princesse. Its elegance stems from the alternation of rounded panels with mirrors, topped by eight canvases by Natoire, depicting the Story of Psyche, set in curvilinear frames.

Send Postcard Learn More

Venus Demanding Arms from Vulcan for Aeneas

This composition shows a close resemblance to Boucher’s painting of the same subject.

You can view other representations of Venus and Vulcan in the Web Gallery of Art.

Send Postcard Learn More

Venus and Cupid

By 1745, when this painting was executed, Natoire had become one of the most important painters in Paris, and one of the most adept and sensual practitioners of the art of the French Rococo.

The painting is signed lower left: C. NATOIRE f.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria

Send Postcard Learn More