Caravaque Louis (1684-1754)

An imprint on the art of Russian left the Frenchman Louis (Louis Caravaque). Louis Caravaque - "Gascon as by birth, and by the habits and manners" (in the words of his contemporary academician J. Staehelin), was born in 1684 in Marseille in a family of carvers, decorators and was the third generation of "Dynasty" Caravaque related with a dressing of ships at Toulon, and later - the galleys at Marseilles.
According to family tradition, Louis - the youngest son of Jean-Baptiste Caravaque - began operations in the Arsenal galleys at Marseilles.
Nov. 13, 1715 in Paris, he had made ​​with P.Lefortom contract for three years on admission to the service of Russian painter "historical paintings, portraits, forests, villages, flowers and animals in large, small and tiny form," with the obligation to take an assistant Russian students.
In 1716, the artist came to St. Petersburg, where he lived until his death .

 During the boat ride of Elizabeth, the boat capsized and only Louis managed to swim and rescue the girl. For this he received from Peter 1 Building, was admitted to the Imperial Guard and rose to the rank of colonel (albeit under a different "profane the name" because aliens then in the Life Guards did not take).

Over the life of a Russian Caravaque repeatedly wrote of Peter I and Catherine I, their daughters - Anna, Elizabeth and Natalia, and children Prince Alexei - Natalia and Peter (later Peter II). According to J. Staehelin, portraits Caravaque distinguished by great similarity with the images on them faces.
in 1721-1727 gg. he performed and directed the mural painting works at Peterhof. In the years 1725-27. worked in St. Petersburg in the "new houses" Summer Palace, took part in the creation of the iconostasis of the Church of the Winter Palace.

However, only at Anna Ivanovna, in the 1730s, thanks to the patronage E.Birona was appointed "court first pictorial works foreman." In his later years he worked as a decorator, wrote by order of the image of Elizabeth, sang her big formal portrait. Among his students - I.Ya.Vishnyakov and A.Antropov .

The artist worked hard and productively, however, with all its varied activities come down to us almost nothing, except for the portraits.

In Russia Caravaque earned the unique position that the evidence not only of personal skill of the artist, but also that he was in St. Petersburg at the very moment when the requests started to change Russian society, when in Russia spread craze "court style" who represented their creativity Caravaque.