In a long career that spanned the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and the Bourbon Restoration, Louis-Leopold Boilly (17611845) created innovative and daring paintingsin the midst of the mostturbulent times. Bringing together two dozen of Boillys worksthe majority of which have never before been publishedthis handsome volume includes portraiture, scenes of seduction, and groundbreakingrepresentations of raucous Parisian street life. A master technician with acute powers of observation and a wry sense of humor, Boilly invented the term trompe loeil and popularized the genre through his stunningly realistic compositions. In this first English-language publication on Boilly in more than 20 years, Francesca Whitlum-Cooper vividly brings the artist and the period he lived in to life, shedding new light on Boillyswork and expanding our understanding of how art functioned within Frances rapidly changing political environment.

Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition Schedule:

National Gallery, London
(02/27/1905/19/19)