Resumen de Jean-Jacques François Le Barbier l'aîné
The work of the draughtsman and painter, Jean-Jacques François le Barbier, l'ainé (1738-1826), has remained relatively unknown. This artist, who lived an exceptionally long life for his time, was active in Paris over a period of some sixty years. He had some degree of critical success and official recognition since he was agrée (recognized) by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1780 and was received as a member in 1785. All during these long years, he produced nearly a hundred paintings, pragmatically conforming to the mode of his time, as much by his subjects as through his style. He produced many drawings in a great variety of techniques : lead pencil, sanguine, pen and ink, wash, and watercolor. Another major part of his activity was devoted to the production of vignettes (there are hundreds) for the illustration of more than sixty luxurious volumes. They provided work for over a hundred engravers during his lifetime. Some of these paintings or highly finished drawings, often known to the public since they had been exhibited at the very official Salons du Louvre, were also engraved and the prints thus produced were widely diffused. This body of work, forgotten and discredited, is infinitely more worthy than the partisan and subjective criticism of the 19th century would have us believe.
