Jacques Laumosnier

Born in Paris in 1669 or shortly before, Jacques Laumosnier belonged to a family of well-to-do artisans from Clichy-la-Garenne and Paris. He probably completed his apprenticeship at the Gobelins factory, run by the painters Charles Le Brun and Adam Frans van der Meulen, and then, after 1690, by their successor Jean-Baptiste Martin. It was probably from the latter that he learned history painting. He was received as a master painter on April 7, 1693, and joined the Académie de Saint-Luc, a community bringing together Parisian master painters and sculptors.^[1]

He was chosen by Marshal René de Froulay, Count of Tessé, to paint the first two paintings known to us by him, made from tapestry designs by the Gobelins: The Interview of Louis XIV and Philip IV on Pheasant Island and The Marriage of Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse of Austria. Laumosnier produced nine large paintings for his patron representing the significant events in the Marshal's life.

From 1718 onwards, Laumosnier assumed the title of painter to the king. He appears to have collaborated with the flower painters Jean-Baptiste Belin father and son, known to have worked in various royal residences such as Saint-Germain, Fontainebleau and Versailles. However, the works that Laumosnier produced for the king remain to be identified.

After the death of his protector in 1725, Laumosnier received various private commissions. He participated, probably under the direction of fr:Augustin Oudart Justina, in the decoration of the fr:Château d'Ermenonville. He also produced portraits in the style of Hyacinthe Rigaud, the most fashionable painter of the time, for wealthy aristocrats and bourgeois such as the Bishop of Arras or the financier Jean-Baptiste Petit-de-Saint-Lienne. In 1735 he was a professor at the Académie de Saint-Luc. At the date of his last known act, in 1744, Jacques Laumosnier was over 75 years old and no longer practicing.