(b Paris, 1680; d Arpajon, 30 Sept 1730). Son of (1) René-Antoine Houasse. He trained in his father’s circle, becoming familiar with the academic teaching methods then fashionable in France and also in Italy, where he went with his father. In 1706 he joined the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris, obtaining the rank of Academician in 1707 with the painting Hercules and Lichas (Tours, Mus. B.-A.). In Rome he probably became acquainted with the Marquis d’Aubigny, secretary to the powerful Princess Orsini, who was close to Philip V of Spain. The Spanish King already had the painter Henri de Favanne in his service in Madrid; Michel-Ange was recommended for work at the Spanish court by Count Jean Orry (1652–1719), the King’s French finance minister, and arrived there in 1715. He had contact with the French artists at court and married the daughter of the French architect René Carlier.

Part of the Houasse family