Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704–1788)

• Was a French Rococo portraitist.
• Among his most famous subjects were Voltaire, Rousseau, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.
• Contemporary accounts describe Quentin de La Tour's nature as lively, good-humoured, but eccentric.
• In many of his self-portraits he depicts himself smiling out from the frame towards the viewer.
• As La Tour's wealth increased from his commissions, so did his philanthropy; he founded a school for drawing in his native Saint-Quentin and donated towards poor women in confinement, and disabled and ageing artisans and artists.
• French Goverment Issued of regular 50 Francs French Banknotes during the years 1976 to 1992 with de La Tour's portrait.
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