Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine

Who was Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine?

Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine was a French-born painter, draughtsman, engraver, drawing artist and caricaturist. From 1774 to 1804 he resided in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he obtained citizenship.

He is considered one of the most important painters of the Polish Enlightenment. He achieved great success in Poland. Given many commissions from some of the most notable families of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he stayed there for many years, not returning to Paris until the early 19th century. His style showed the influence of Antoine Watteau, and combined the Rococo tradition of charming fêtes galantes and fêtes champêtres with a panorama of daily life and current political events, captured with journalistic accuracy. He created a gallery of portraits of representatives of all social classes in the last years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.