Biography for Jean Etienne Liotard

Employment

Despite having been born in Geneva, Liotard's origins were French, and in 1723 he went to Paris to study. His talents soon became apparent and before long the precocious and brilliant young man was to be found among the highest levels of aristocratic society in the capital. In 1736 he travelled to Rome in the company of the French ambassador to the city, but swiftly tired of the life there and made his way to Constantinople (the modern Istanbul) where he stayed for five years. His active personality compelled him to be frequently on the move, and by 1743 he was in Vienna where he obtained extraordinary success, with almost the entire court eager to be painted by him. Restlessness was clearly in his nature and, although he continued to travel widely, he finally settled in Geneva once again, where he died just a month before the outbreak of the French Revolution.