Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée

French painter, teacher. Father of Anthelme-François Lagrenée. Known as Lagrenée l'aîné, to distinguish him from his younger brother, Jean-Jacques Lagrenée. Studied under Carlo Vanloo and won the Prix de Rome (1749). Elected to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (1755). Invited by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to St Petersburg, where he headed the Imperial Academy of Arts (1760–62). Returned to Paris, where he worked at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and received many important public commissions. Responsible for the movement away from Rococo towards Neoclassicism in French art. Director of the French Academy in Rome (1781–87). Awarded the Légion d’honneur (1804). Died in the Louvre, where he worked as honorary keeper (1805).