Jean-François Legillon (1739-1797)

• Was a Flemish painter.
• He was educated at a Jesuit school and showed an early aptitude for drawing.
• At the age of twelve, he was already taking lessons at the Brugse Academie, directed by Matthias de Visch.
• In 1760, he went to Rouen to attend the Académie des Sciences, Belles-lettres et Arts.
• From 1770 to 1772, he visited Rome, where he created numerous watercolors and pastels.
• He toured Italy from 1772 to 1774, then returned to Paris, where he held his first exhibition at the Salon in 1775.

• He was back in Bruges by 1776 and took some students: Gerardus de San, Jean Charles Verbrugge and N. van de Steene.

• In 1779 he travelled through Switzerland until 1780.
• He settled permanently in Paris in 1782.
• After a brief but serious illness, he died in Paris in 1797.
• An old friend Joseph-Benoît Suvée, arranged for all of his paintings, drawings and sketches to be sent to his family in Bruges.

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