Pierre Rabon

Rabon was born in Le Havre.^[1]

Rabon became a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture on 3 July 1660.^[2] His reception piece was a portrait of Antoine de Ratabon, who at the time was both Superintendent of Buildings (Surintendant des Bâtiments) and the director of the Académie.^[3][4] His portrait of Ratabon was for a long time believed to have been lost,^[5] but in 1994, a painting in the collection of the Château de Versailles, which had previously been identified by Albert Laprade as a portrait of the architect Louis Le Vau, was proposed as more likely to be Rabon's portrait of Ratabon.^[6]

Rabon exhibited a portrait of a Monsieur Perier at the Paris Salon of 1673.^[1] His other works include Portrait of a Woman (private collection) and three other portraits known from engravings: Claude Gallard, Councillor at the Parlement, engraved by Jean-Baptiste Humbelot; Louis Roupert, Master Goldsmith at Metz, engraved by Louis Cossin [Wikidata]; and Hyacinthe Serroni, Archbishop of Albi, engraved by Gantrel. There are also records of copies commissioned by the Bâtiments du Roi: Christ on the Cross after Charles Le Brun in 1667 for the Menagerie at Versailles and Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV after Mignard in 1671.^[7][5]

In 2000, the painting Saint John Preaching in the Desert (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Carcassonne), previously believed to be a work by Sébastien Bourdon, was reattributed to Pierre Rabon.^[8]

Pierre Rabon married Louise Gomboust on 29 October 1643.^[9] Their son, Nicolas Rabon (1644–1686), became a history painter.^[1][5][9] Pierre Rabon died in Paris.^[1]