Brief Biography-Maurice Quentin de La Tour was born at Saint-Quentin in 1704. He was a disciple of Jean-Jacques Spoede before he began to use pastels. He visited London in 1725 and returned to Paris to work as a portraitist. He exhibited at the Salon in 1737, but he excelled mainly in his hometown, and in 1746, he became an Academician. He did many portraits of Louis XV and Queen Marie Leszczynska. His exact likeness of sitters was such that Charles-André van Loo used La Tour’s image of the Queen’s head to save her sitting for her painting. His most famous work is Madame de Pompadour, now in the Louvre. La Tour’s last exhibit at the Salon was in 1773 before retiring to Saint-Quentin due to failing physical and mental health.