Jean-Baptiste Nattier (27 September 1678, Paris - 23 May 1726, Paris) was a French history painter.
His father was the portrait painter, Marc Nattier and his mother was the miniaturist, Marie Courtois. His brother, Jean-Marc Nattier, also became a painter. Both brothers received their first art lessons from their father.
Jean-Baptiste Nattier (1678–1726)
Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, c. 1711
Oil on canvas
73,5x92 cm
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Joseph works hard for his master, Potʹi·phar. So when Joseph grows older, Potʹi·phar puts him in charge of his whole house.
Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
So when her husband comes home, she lies to him and says: ‘Joseph tried to lie down with me!’ Potʹi·phar believes his wife, and he is very angry with Joseph. So he has him thrown into prison. More on Joseph and Potiphar
Attributed to Jean Baptiste Nattier (French, 1678–1726)
Cimon and Pero
Oil on Canvas
95.5 x 74.5 cm. (37.6 x 29.3 in.)
Private collection
Roman Charity is the exemplary story of a woman, Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. She is found out by a jailer, but her act of selflessness impresses officials and wins her father's release.
The story is recorded by the ancient Roman historian Valerius Maximus, and was presented as a great act of filial piety and Roman honour. A painting in the Temple of Pietas depicted the scene. Among Romans, the theme had mythological echoes in Juno's breastfeeding of the adult Hercules, an Etruscan myth. More on Roman Charity
From 1704 to 1709, he studied at the Académie de France à Rome and, in 1712, was received as a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture upon presentation of his painting, Joseph sollicité par la femme de Putiphar (See above).
Jean-Baptiste Nattier (1678-1726)
The Death of Adonis, c. 1718
Oil on shaped canvas made up to a rectangle
34 x 41in. (87.6 x 106cm.)
Private collection
Sold for USD 30,000 in Jun 2020
In Greek mythology, Adonis was the god of beauty and desire. Originally, he was a god worshipped in the area of Phoenicia (modern – day Lebanon), but was later adopted by the Greeks. According to the most popular belief, he was the son of Theias, king of Syria, and Myrrha (also known as Smyrna), Theias’ daughter.
Adonis was a great hunter and Artemis got jealous of his hunting skills. So Artemis sent a wild boar which eventually killed Adonis in one of his hunting expeditions. A different version of the myth has it that the boar was sent by Ares, as he was the lover of Aphrodite. Adonis bled to death in Aphrodite’s arms. Anemones sprang out of the tears of Aphrodite while she was mourning the death of her lover.
More on the Death of Adonis
Jean Baptiste Nattier
Boreas Abducting Oreithyia
Oil on canvas
100 x 90 cm
Private collection
Estimate for 26,000 - 35,000 EUR in November 2021
Failing to win the hand of the lovely Athenian princess Orethyia, one of the daughters of King Erechtheus, by gentle means, Boreas, the cold wind god of the North, decided to revert to his true nature of wildness and cold rage. The story is told by Ovid in the sixth book of the Metamorphoses, and Nattier admirably evokes the passion and fury of the tale. Boreas swoops down, concealed by dark and stormy clouds, and forcibly snatches up Oreithyia. Boreas carried her back to his northern realm, where she later bore him twin sons. More on Boreas Abducting Oreithyia
Jean-Baptiste Nattier (1678–1726)
Romulus being taken up to Olympus by Mars
Oil on canvas
99 × 96.5 cm (38.9 × 37.9 in)
Museum of John Paul II Collection
With Romulus now the Roman god Quirinus, Hersilia, his queen, mourned his loss. Juno therefore instructed Iris to descend and invite Hersilia to join Romulus/Quirinus on Olympus.
Only Jean-Baptiste Nattier painted the apotheosis of the founder of Rome, in his Romulus being taken up to Olympus by Mars from about 1700. Mars is embracing Romulus, with the standard of Rome being borne at the lower left, and the divine chariot ready to take Romulus up to the upper right corner, where the rest of the gods await him. More on this painting
With this and training from his father and uncle he became an award-winning artist. He became well know for depicting his woman subjects in portraits as mythological goddesses. Examples of such can be seen in the Uffizi Gallery in his works, Henriette of France as Flora and, Marie Adelaide of France as Diana. Henriette (1727 – 1752) was the first daughter of King Louis XV and Queen Maria Leczinska of France and Marie Adelaide (1732 – 1800) their third. Both portraits show near perfect depictions of his subjects’ likeness, while still rendering a mythological ambience in the work. He also completed more straight-forward portraits of the Queen of France, Maria Leczinska (See below).
French School, 18th Century, Circle Jean Baptiste Nattier
Cleopatra
Oval canvas
87.5 x 77 cm
Private collection
Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 – August 12, 30 BC), was the last active pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt, briefly survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion. After her reign, Egypt became a province of the recently established Roman Empire.
Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death. The Ptolemies spoke Greek throughout their dynasty, and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes, and later with her brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, whom she married as per Egyptian custom, but eventually she became sole ruler. As pharaoh, she consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne.
After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar's legal heir Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus). With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helio. Antony committed suicide after losing the Battle of Actium to Octavian's forces, and Cleopatra followed suit. According to tradition, she killed herself by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BC. More on Cleopatra
Nattier rose to prominence after executing engravings of Peter Paul Rebuns’, Marie de Medicis Cycle, and also in painting portraits of Peter the Great, The Russian Tsar (1672 – 1725) (See below) and his wife the Empress Catherine (1684 – 1727) in Amsterdam (Encyclopedia Britannica). He was also commissioned by Peter the Great to paint historical works such as, Battle of Pultawa and The Battle of Lesnaya.
Attributed to Jean-Marc Nattier (1685–1766)
Portrait of Peter I (1672–1725)
Oil on canvas Edit this at Wikidata
Height: 142.5 cm (56.1 in); Width: 110 cm (43.3 in)
Hermitage Museum
Peter the Great , Peter I, ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V.
Through a number of successful wars, he expanded the Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power, that also laid the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy after capturing ports at Azov and the Baltic Sea. More on Peter I.
Jean Marc Nattier
The Battle of the Forest/ Battle of Lesnaya, 1717
Pushkin Museum
The Battle of Lesnaya was one of the major battles of the Great Northern War. It took place between a Russian army commanded by Peter I of Russia, and a Swedish army commanded by Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt and Berndt Otto Stackelberg.. The Swedes were escorting a supply column of more than 4,500 wagons for their main army in Ukraine. More on The Battle of Lesnaya
Jean-Baptiste Nattier (1678-1726)
Portrait of Marie Rose Larlan de Rochefort, Marquise de Nétumières, c. 1748
Oil on canvas
39 ½ x 31 ½ in. (100.2 x 80.6 cm.)
Private collection
Nattier’s portrait of the Marquise de Nétumières was painted when the sitter was about 30 years old, and many of its delights are particular to the artist’s sumptuous yet modest portrayal of her. Despite the agitated excitement of the little black hound barking on her lap, her expression conveys a calm and direct openness and intelligence, and an inviting warmth of personality that accounts for much of the painting’s appeal. The beautiful, nuanced rendering of fabrics, subtle palette of various dark blues – including ‘Nattier Blue’, the color that still carries the artist’s name – and chocolate browns, and the gently rendered fall of natural light all contribute to its allure. The warm sfumato that envelops the marquise heightens the creaminess of her complexion, creating soft atmospheric effects that emphasize her refined beauty and function as a metaphor for the sweet charm of the sitter’s character that her contemporaries often cited. More on this painting
He painted many portraits, another of which is in the Uffizi Gallery; Marie Zephirine of France (See below), a granddaughter of King Louis XV, who died at only five years old. Nattier was an official portraitist for the King’s daughters and their children.
Jean-Baptiste Nattier (1678-1726)
Portrait of Princess Marie Zéphyrine of France (1750-1755), c. 1751
Oil on canvas
Height: 70.0 cm; Width: 82.0 cm
Uffizi Gallery
Marie Zéphyrine died at Versailles due to an attack of convulsions, in the early hours of the morning of 2 September, having been baptised just days before by the Abbot of Chabannes. She was not officially mourned; a Daughter of France could only be mourned if she was over the age of 7. She was buried at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis outside the capital of Paris. More on Marie Zéphyrine
He became involved the sexual scandals surrounding Benjamin Deschauffour, who was convicted for operating a pederastic network and executed. Nattier was imprisoned in the Bastille and his membership in the Académie was rescinded. Rather than suffer the fate of Deschauffour (whose corpse was publicly burned in the Place de Grève), he committed suicide by cutting his throat with an oyster knife.
His professional belongings at the Acadėmie were returned to his family. More on Jean-Baptiste Nattier
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