(b Paris, 17 March 1686; d Beauvais, 30 April 1755). French painter. He was the principal animal painter and one of the foremost decorative painters during the first half of Louis XV's reign. After initial training as a portrait painter, he concentrated on still-lifes; by the 1720s he had also begun to establish himself as a specialist in hunting scenes, game-pieces and portraits of animals. He ran an active workshop, often keeping his best originals for years and selling copies and (more or less autograph) variants. In the 1730s he was most active as a tapestry designer, making numerous designs for the royal tapestry works of Beauvais and the Gobelins, and he continued to produce his brilliantly painted hunts, still-lifes and studies of animals and birds to the end of his career.

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(zhäN bätēst' ūdrē') , 1686–1755, French animal painter. A pupil of Largillière, he became court painter to Louis XV, recording the king's hunts in his paintings and tapestry designs. He was also director of the Beauvais and the Gobelin tapestry works. He is known for his illustrations of La Fontaine's Fables. His work, to be seen in museums throughout Europe, is characterized by the use of brilliant color. Typical of his work are Ducks Resting in Sunshine and Dogs Guarding Dead Game (Metropolitan Mus.)