Portrait Of Louis-nicolas Clerambault 1676-1749

Portrait of Louis-Nicolas Clerambault 1676-1749 Original oil on canvas Dimensions: 110 X 90 CM Our portrait shows the artist in three-quarter length wearing an elegant blue velvet frock coat over a pink silk waistcoat trimmed with lace. He is seated at his harpsichord, a score of the Orpheus cantata resting on his easel. Our portrait was taken by Louis-Simon LEMPEREUR, an engraver born in 1728 and died in 1807, who was engraver to the King. This engraving is kept at the BNF. Born into a family of musicians in Paris in 1676, Louis-Nicolas CLERAMBAULT studied violin and harpsichord, a pupil of André Raison, organist of the Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève and of the Jacobins of the rue Saint-Jacques. He also studied composition and singing with Jean-Baptiste Moreau. Louis XIV, having heard one of his cantatas, ordered him to compose several for his chamber service, and appointed him superintendent of the private music of Madame de Maintenon. Organist of the church of the Grands-Augustins since 1704, he succeeded Nivers, who died in 1714, at the organs of Saint-Sulpice and at the royal house of Saint-Cyr. It was in this position, which was confirmed after the death of Madame de Maintenon, that he developed the genre of the "French cantata", of which he is the undisputed master. In 1719, he succeeded his master André Raison at the organs of the church of the Grands-Jacobins. He is known for being the first master of the sonata and the French cantata, inspired by Italian models.