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La Tour, Maurice Quentin de

La Tour, Maurice Quentin de (mōrēs' käNtăN' du lä tOOr) [key], 1704–88, French portraitist working in pastel. From 1737 to 1773 he exhibited at the Salon portraits of considerable technical virtuosity and psychological penetration. They brought him an immense and continuing popularity. Among his famous sitters were Louis XV, Mme de Pompadour, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Marshal de Saxe. Most of his work is in the Louvre and in the museum of his native Saint-Quentin.

See biography by A. Bury (1973).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

More on Maurice Quentin de La Tour from Fact Monster:

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  • Saint-Quentin - Saint-Quentin Saint-Quentin , city (1990 pop. 62,085), Aisne dept., N France, on the Somme River. ...

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