(b Paris, 26 March 1699; d Paris, 20 April 1773). French illustrator, engraver, painter and draughtsman.

He was born Hubert-François Bourguignon, son of a Parisian tailor. As a young man he took the name Gravelot, the surname of his godfather. Together with his elder brother, who later became the well-known geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, Gravelot attended the Collège des Quatre Nations, Paris, but neglected his studies in favour of drawing. Under the patronage of Louis d’Aubusson, Duc de la Feuillade (1673–1725), Gravelot undertook a trip to Rome to study art, but when he reached Lyon his money ran out, and he was forced to return to Paris. Several years later Gravelot’s father sent him to Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) with the Chevalier de la Rochalard, Governor-General of the island. There Gravelot apparently tried to establish himself in the business of overseas trade, but an early loss of an expensive shipment of merchandise caused him to abandon the project. By c. 1729 Gravelot had returned penniless to Paris; all he had produced in Santo Domingo was a map of the island.

• Gravelot
  • England, §III, 3(i): Portraiture and subject painting, c 1620–c 1830
  • Le Mire, Noël
  • Rococo, §IV: England
  • assistants
    • Gainsborough, Thomas, §1(i): Early years and training in London, to 1748
  • collaboration
    • Hayman, Francis
    • Moreau: (2) Jean-Michel Moreau
  • pupils
    • Major, Thomas
  • reproductive prints by others
    • Duclos, Antoine-Jean
    • Ghendt, Emmanuel Jean de
    • Hancock, Robert
    • Lempereur, Louis-Simon
    • Longueil, Joseph de
    • Scotin, Gérard, II
    • Vandergucht: (2) Gerard Vandergucht
  • works
    • Basan, Pierre-François
    • Book illustration, §III: 18th century
    • England, §X, 3: Gold boxes
    • France, §X, 2: Gold boxes
    • Vignette