Oil Paint
Oil paint is a slow-drying art medium made with pigment and a drying-oil binder that allows extended working time, smooth blending, and layered application.
Painter
Jean-Marc Nattier
Jean-Marc Nattier was a French Rococo portrait painter known for elegant aristocratic sitters, mythological costumes, and luminous oil-painted fabrics.
Jean-Marc Nattier quick facts
Nattier frequently portrayed elite patrons in a mixture of contemporary fashion and mythological attributes; his portraits also document the social importance of dress and cosmetics.
| Born | 1685 · Paris, France |
|---|---|
| Died | 1766 · Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Movements | Rococo |
| Paint types | Oil Paint |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas |
| Painting methods | Carefully modeled faces, soft blush and powdered hair, polished passages of blue silk and lace, and allegorical poses built from live sitters |
| Common subjects | French royal and aristocratic women, Diana and other mythological identities, luxurious fabrics, fashionable makeup, and family portraiture |
| Notable works | Madame Bergeret de Frouville as Diana · Madame Marsollier and Her Daughter · The Spring (La Source) · Portrait of a Woman |
Sources: The Met: Madame Bergeret de Frouville as Diana, oil on canvas, The Met: Madame Marsollier and Her Daughter, oil on canvas, The Met: The Spring (La Source), oil on canvas, The Met: Portrait of a Woman, oil on canvas.
Paint types used
The Met identifies Madame Bergeret de Frouville as Diana, Madame Marsollier and Her Daughter, and The Spring as oil paintings, without documenting an additional paint medium for these works.
Surface types used
The museum records for these four portraits identify canvas as their original painting support. Later stretcher alterations do not establish a different surface type.
Canvas
Canvas is a woven fabric support, commonly cotton or linen, used for painting and sold either raw or prepared with a compatible ground layer.
Painters similar to Jean-Marc Nattier
Boucher shared Nattier's interest in mythological dress and fashionable patrons; Watteau offers an earlier Rococo comparison through elegant social gatherings.
François Boucher
François Boucher was a French Rococo painter known for graceful mythological scenes, idealized pastoral settings, and lighthearted decorative commissions.
Antoine Watteau
Antoine Watteau was a French painter whose elegant garden gatherings, theater figures, and tender fêtes galantes helped establish the Rococo style.