Greuze, Jean Baptiste (1725-1805)

French painter. He made his name with sentimental and moralizing genre subjects, such as Paralytic Attended by His Children 1763 (Hermitage, St Petersburg). Very popular in their own day, they reflect the attitudes of the philosophers Denis Diderot and Jean Jacques Rousseau concerning simple virtues and family life.

Greuze was born near Macon, Burgundy, and studied at the Academy in Paris. He painted neoclassical history pictures, such as Septimus Severus Reproaching Caracalla 1769 (Louvre, Paris) but soon found success with genre subjects influenced by Dutch painting. Generally sentimental, these often degenerated into coy eroticism, especially his paintings of young girls. Like many of his works, The Bible Reading 1755 (Louvre, Paris) was frequently reproduced in engraving. He was also an admirable portraitist but the French Revolution ended his popularity and he died neglected.