Twenty-three paintings represent at the Louvre the art of Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805), who trod the safe path of flattering the taste of the multitude by the mawkish sentimentality of his genre-pieces and the prettiness and half-concealed sensuality of his “fancy portraits” of young women, which in their suggestiveness are perhaps more insidious than the frank improprieties of Boucher and Fragonard. The sentimental and melodramatic side of Greuze’s art is strikingly revealed in _The Village Engagement_ (No. 369), in _The Paternal Curse_ (No. 370), and in _The Punished Son_ (No. 371), which aroused the enthusiasm of that singularly misguided critic Diderot. But it is the painting of pictures like _The Broken Pitcher_ (No. 372, Plate XLIII.), _The Milkmaid_ (No. 372A), and _The Dead Bird_ (No. 372C; a replica of the picture in the Scottish National Gallery), that has made him the idol of a certain undiscriminating section of the public, and established him among the world’s most popular painters. PORTRAIT PAINTERS The leading position among the portrait painters of Louis XV.’s corrupt Court was occupied by Jean Marc Nattier (1685-1766), who was a good colourist, but was utterly lacking in sincerity, and placed his able brush at the service of the basest flattery. He has left a whole gallery of Court beauties posing as, and invested with the attributes of, Greek goddesses and allegorical personifications in the manner of the group of _Mdlle. de Lambesc and the Comte de Brienne_ (No. 659) as Minerva preparing the hero for warlike exploits. The _Magdalen_ (No. 657) is probably another contemporary portrait in fancy costume. His best picture at the Louvre is the _Portrait of a Young Woman_ (No. 661A). François Hubert Drouais (1725-1775), the painter of the group of the _Comte d’Artois (afterwards Charles X.) and Madame Clotilde, afterwards Queen of Sardinia_ (No. 266), who received a good share of Court patronage, showed considerable ability when he had sufficient strength to resist the temptation to flatter his sitters. But unfortunately he too often followed the example of Nattier in this respect. TOCQUÉ, VESTIER, AND LÉPICIÉ