Nattier, Jean-Marc

Nattier, Jean-Marc (b Paris, 17 Mar. 1685; d Paris, 7 Nov. 1766).
French painter. His father Marc (c.1642–1705) was a painter and his mother Marie (née Courtois) (c.1655–1703) was a miniaturist. Nattier had early ambitions to be a history painter, but he came to specialize in portraits, and from the 1730s he was one of the most successful artists at the court of Louis XV, excelling in the vogue for painting women in mythological or allegorical fancy dress—or undress—transforming his matrons into goddesses (The Duchesse d'Orléans as Hebe, 1744, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm). The pastel-like delicacy of his handling led to the accusation that he ‘painted with make-up’. His portraits are little concerned with individual characterization, but they show fluency, vivacity, and a relaxed charm. Towards the end of his career taste began to turn against him and some of his later work shows signs of fatigue. His brother Jean-Baptiste (1678–1726) was also a painter; he committed suicide after being expelled by the Académie Royale. Tocqué was Nattier's pupil and son-in-law.