Maurice Quentin De La Tour (Saint Quentin 1704-1788)

Crébillon (1674-1762) was a poet and playwright, a contemporary of Voltaire. Despite his success which included membership to the Académie Française and an appointment by Madame de Pompadour to the royal library, Crébillon lived in near-poverty and isolation. There are several versions of this portrait. The primary version was exhibited at the Salon in 1761. It was one of the earliest 18th-century portraits done à l'antique, a fitting depiction of a writer who was called the 'Eschyle français'.