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De La Fosse also spelled
Delafosse, painter whose decorative historical and allegorical murals,
while continuing a variant of the stately French Baroque manner of the
17th century, began to develop a lighter, more brightly coloured
style that presaged the Rococo painting of the 18th century.
The greatest
influence on La Fosse's painting was the work of his teacher,
Charles
Le Brun, the dictator of artistic matters in France during the reign of
King Louis XIV. La Fosse was also impressed with the works of the 16th-century
Italians Francesco Primaticcio (whose visible work was all in France),
Titian, and
Paolo Veronese, which he studied during his five-year stay
in Rome and Venice (from 1658). In 1689-91 La Fosse decorated Montagu
House in London. His greatest work was the decoration of the cupola of
the Church of Les Invalides in Paris (1705), while the Sacrifice of Iphigenia
in the Salon de Diane of Versailles and the Sunrise in the Salon d'Apollon
are his most important works in the style of Charles Le Brun. More significant
to later artists, however, are his smaller works, such as The Finding
of Moses (1675-80; Louvre, Paris), remarkable for their use of light and
their fresh colour sense. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1673
and was named chancellor in 1715.
Works
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