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Lebas, Jacques-Philippe
(b Paris, 8 July 1707; d Paris, 14 April 1783). French engraver. He was brought up in poverty by his widowed mother. At the age of 14 he joined the studio of Antoine Herisset (1685–1769), a mediocre architectural engraver, and he also had lessons from Nicolas-Henry Tardieu. His training, however, was chiefly based on close study of 17th-century engravings, particularly those of Gérard Audran. As a result, he retained throughout his life a marked predilection for free engraving, using an etched base with rich tonal contrasts. In 1729 Pierre Crozat commissioned from him an engraving of St John the Baptist Preaching to the Multitude (Paris, Louvre) after Pier Francesco Mola (ii). Lebas rapidly became successful; around 1733 he opened a studio, which soon became the busiest in Paris. He began to assemble an important collection of plates as a long-term resource; he set all his pupils to work on these, restricting himself to giving unity and harmony to plates that had been worked by others. His remarkable technical skill enabled him to put right his pupils’ work with a few strokes, sometimes even in drypoint (he was also the first engraver to use drypoint for skies). The practice of collaborative working caused him difficulties with membership of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Paris. He was accepted (agréé) in 1735, but the portraits of Pierre-Jacques Cazes (SG 70) and Robert Le Lorrain (both Versailles, Château; both after Jacques Aved), which he had been required to submit as morceaux de réception, were refused in 1741 because of a rumour that Lebas had said to his pupils ‘Rejoice, Messieurs; you are about to be received by the Académie’. He was once again agréé in 1742 and was received (reçu) in 1743 with a Conversation galante (London, Wallace) after Nicolas Lancret. In 1771 he was elected a Conseiller of the Académie.
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- Lebas, Jacques-Philippe
- Reproduction of works of art, §2(ii): 18th century
- assistants
- pupils
- Basan, Pierre-François
- Chenu, Pierre
- Eisen, Charles(-Dominique-Joseph)
- Ficquet, Etienne
- Floding, Per Gustaf
- Gaucher, Charles-Etienne
- Helman, Isidore-Stanislas-Henri
- Hoüel, Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent
- Laurent, André
- Le Mire, Noël
- Le Veau, Jean-Jacques(-André)
- Longueil, Joseph de
- Major, Thomas
- Numan, Hermanus
- Ravenet, Simon Francis, the elder (1706-74)
- Rehn, Jean Eric
- Strange, Robert
- Vinkeles, Reinier
- Wicar, Jean-Baptiste(-Joseph)
- teachers
- works
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