Jean-François de Troy (Paris, January 27, 1679-Rome, January 26, 1752) was a French painter of Rococo style.
Member of a family of painters, his father, the portraitist François de Troy (1645-1730), initiated him in painting and encouraged him to travel to Italy, an obligatory step for any painter of the time, where he lived between 1699 and 1706, mainly in Rome, but also visited other cities in the north of that country.
Although his main dedication was "history painting", occupied with religious, mythological or historical subjects, he also dealt with light subjects with scenes of everyday life (fêtes galantes) in the manner of Antoine Watteau.
Back in France, in 1708 he entered the Academy. Between 1724 and 1737, he worked in Versailles and Fontainebleau, and designed cartoons for the Gobelins manufactories (History of Esther, History of Jason).
In 1727 he received, together with François Lemoyne, the first prize in the "Grand Concours" organized by the Duke of Antin, director of the royal works, for his painting of the Repose of Diana (oil on canvas, 130 x 196, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy).
In 1738 he was appointed director of the Academy of France in Rome, where he died in 1752. Among his pupils were Marianne Loir and Antoine Favray, but also Tadeusz Kuntz.
Works of Jean-François de Troy
- Le Christ devant Pilate
- Le Dédain de Mardochée envers Aman
- Le Triomphe de Mardochée
- L'Evanouissement d'Esther
- A breakfast of chasse
- A breakfast of flowers
- Diane's rest
- Diane changing Actéon into Cerf
- Before the ball
- The lucky Jérôme Emilien presenting the children to the Virgin Mary