Personalities Moreau, Jean-Michel (the Younger)

Draftsman, engraver, etcher of Rococo style. An outstanding book illustrator of the 18th century. He studied under Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain, accompanied the teacher to St. Petersburg in 1758, where he became the first director of the Imperial Academy of Arts at the invitation of I. I. Shuvalov. He taught drawing at the Academy, after the death of Le Lorrain in 1759 he returned to Paris. He studied engraving with Jacques-Philippe Lebas who worked on the order of patron and collector Pierre Crozat. At first, he was engaged in reproduction engraving with a cutter and etching. In 1770, he replaced Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger in the position of "painter of small royal holidays". Moreau created original compositions on the entertainment themes of Louis XV and Madame du Barry, later – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. In 1781, he received the official position of draftsman and engraver of the King's Cabinet and apartments in the Louvre. In 1785 he traveled through Italy. In 1789 he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Later, he did little engraving, other engravers worked on his drawings. According to the catalog of his works, he illustrated more than 200 editions.

He continued to work as a book illustrator even during the years of the revolution. In 1793 he was an appointed member of the revolutionary art commission, in 1797 he became a professor at the Paris Central School of Fine Arts. During the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, Moreau retained his position and even received the position of draftsman to the king.

He created about two thousand graphic sheets (1961 items).