Alexander Kucharsky
| Alexander Kucharsky | |
|---|---|
Alexander Kucharski (1797)
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| Born |
Alexander Kucharsky 18 March 1741 Warsaw, Poland |
| Died | 5 November 1819 Paris, France |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Known for | painter |
| Notable work |
Louis XVII of France Countess of Artois |
| Patron(s) | French court |
Alexander Kucharsky (18 March 1741 – 5 November 1819) also Alexandre Kucharsky, was a Polish portrait painter who spent his adult life in France. He himself used the spelling Kucharsky, but Kucharski is also often used. In the past, in France, the name has been given as Couaski.
Kucharsky was born in Warsaw. As a boy, he was a page to King Stanisław II Augustus, the last elected ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He trained first as an artist in Warsaw, in the studio of the famous painter Marcello Bacciarelli. With a bursary from King Stanisław Augustus, he then travelled to Paris to work under Joseph-Marie Vien and Carle van Loo at the Académie Royale, from 1760 to 1769.
The king of Poland wanted Kucharsky to train as a historical painter, but instead he became a portrait artist, thus losing the king's patronage. From 1776 to 1778, Kucharsky was in the service of the Princes de Condé.
Kucharsky liked to paint half-length portraits in pastels or in oils, but he also worked in gouache and sometimes painted miniatures. His clients were mostly from the French and Polish aristocracy. The latter had increased in numbers in France as a result of the alliance between King Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska.
After the departure from the French court of Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun in 1789, Kucharsky became painter to Queen Marie-Antoinette. As well as painting her portrait and the royal children, he also painted Marie-Louise, princesse de Lamballe, the comte d'Artois, later King Charles X, the countess of Artois, and Catherine the Great of Russia.
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