JOUVENET

jouvenet, jean (1647-1717), french painter, born at rouen, came of a family of artists, one of whom had taught poussin. he early showed remarkable aptitude for his profession, and, on arriving in paris, attracted the attention of le brun, by whom he was employed at versailles, and under whose auspices, in 1675, he became a member of the academie royale, of which he was elected professor in 1681, and one of the four perpetual rectors in 1707. the great mass of works that he executed, chiefly in paris, many of which, including his celebrated miraculous draught of fishes (engraved by audran; also landon, _annales_, i. 42), are now in the louvre, show his fertility in invention and execution, and also that he possessed in a high degree that general dignity of arrangement and style which distinguished the school of le brun. jouvenet died on the 5th of april 1717, having been forced by paralysis during the last four years of his life to work with his left hand. see _mem. ined. acad. roy. de p. et de sc._, 1854, and d'argenville, _vies des peintres_.