LIOTARD, JEAN ETIENNE (1702-1789), Swiss painter, was born at Geneva. He began his studies under Gardelle and Petitot. He went to Paris in 1723, studying under J. B. Masse and F. le Moyne on whose recommendation he was taken to Naples by the Marquis Puysieux. In 1735 he was in Rome, paint ing the portraits of Pope Clement XII. and several cardinals. Three years later he accompanied Lord Duncannon to Constan tinople, whence he went to Vienna in 1743 to paint the portraits of the imperial family. His eccentric adoption of oriental costume secured him the nickname of "the Turkish painter." Still under distinguished patronage he returned to Paris in 1744; visited England, where he painted the princess of Wales in 1753, and went to Holland in 1756, where, in the following year, he married Marie Fargues. Another visit to England followed in 1772, and in the next two years his name figures among the Royal Academy exhibitors. He returned to his native town in 1776 and died at Geneva in 1789.
Liotard was an artist of great versatility, and though his fame depends largely on his graceful and delicate pastel drawings, of which "La Liseuse," the "Chocolate Girl," and "La Belle Lyon naise" at the Dresden Gallery are delightful examples, he achieved distinction by his enamels, copperplate engravings and glass paint ing. He wrote a Treatise on the Art of Painting, and was an
expert collector of paintings by the old masters. Amsterdam, Berne and Geneva are particularly rich in examples of his paint ings and pastel drawings. A picture of a Turk seated is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, while the British Museum owns two of his drawings. The Louvre has, besides 22 drawings, a portrait of General Herault, and a portrait of the artist is in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.