Eisen, (Valenciennes, 1720 – Bruxelles, 1778)

Charles Joseph Dominique Eisen (Valenciennes, 17 August 1720 – Brussels, 4 January 1778) Group of Cupids Oil on panel, 52.5 x 75.5 cm Charles Joseph Dominique Eisen (Valenciennes, 17 August 1720 – Brussels, 4 January 1778) was a French painter, engraver and draftsman, specializing in the representation of watercolor subjects. "Son of François Eisen and Marie-Marguerite Gainse, he trained at the school of his father and Jacques-Philippe Le Bas. He continued his studies at the Academy of Saint Luke in Paris, where he became deputy director. He was drawing master to Madame de Pompadour and draftsman to the king (dessinateur du roi). On 20 September 1743 he married Anne Aubert, 13 years older than him, with whom he had 6 children, including Christophe-Charles and Jacques-Philippe, painters. In 1776, after the closure of the Academy, due to the hostility of Madame de Pompadour, he was forced to leave Paris for Brussels. He mainly represented allegorical, mythological, Christian-religious, genre subjects, figures, interiors, landscapes and portraits. His paintings feature numerous scenes with putti and elements of Leiden genre painting. His artistic production, which bears reminiscences of François Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Alexis Grimou, Carle van Loo and Jean-François de Troy, makes him considered a follower of Pieter Paul Rubens. He became famous for the ornaments, typically rococo, with which he enriched literary works (Ovid's Metamorphoses). He created the illustrations for La Fontaine's Contes (1762), his main work, and also created a series of decorative drawings (1653). (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eisen)."