LOUIS-GABRIEL MOREAU, called L’AÎNÉ (1740-1806)

WASHERWOMEN BY A COUNTRYSIDE WATERMILL
Watercolour & gouache with black chalk
17.7 x 23 cm
 
PROVENANCE:
Anonymous sale, Christie’s, Paris, 10.04.2013, lot 63
 
 
 
 
 
Born in Paris in 1740, Louis-Gabriel Moreau trained under Pierre-Antoine Demachy and, like his master, took the architecture of Paris and the landscapes of its environs as his subject. His moniker, ‘Moreau l’Aîné’ (‘Moureau the Elder’), was coined in an attempt to distinguish the artist’s work from that of his precocious younger brother, Jean-Miche Moreau (called ‘Moreau le Jeune’).
 
Although he was accepted into the Académie de Saint-Luc, Louis-Gabriel’s preference for landscapes may have been the cause of his exclusion from the Royal Academy of Paintings and Sculpture, despite his attempts to gain admission in 1787 and 1788. While the Louvre was undergoing renovations to transform it into a public museum and gallery, the artist lived in its buildings. There, employed by the Count of Artois, he painted romanticized landscapes and images of ruins. In 1793, following the outbreak of the Revolution, the Louvre opened its doors to the public and Louis-Gabriel worked within the museum, as a restorer and conservator of its collection.