François Lemoyne

Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy Completed on the day before the artist's suicide.

François Lemoyne or François Le Moine (; 1688 – 4 June 1737) was a French rococo painter. He was a winner of the Prix de Rome, professor of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, and Premier peintre du Roi to Louis XV. He was tutor to Charles-Joseph Natoire and François Boucher.

Throughout his career, Lemoyne sought to be seen as the heir to Charles Le Brun and the leading painter of his generation, titles also vied for by his rival Jean-François de Troy (1679–1752). Lemoyne's work and talent, notably plied in Versailles, earned him the esteem of his contemporaries and the name of the "new Le Brun". He collaborated with or worked alongside other artists of the era, including Donat Nonnotte, Gilles Dutilleul, Charles de La Fosse, and Coypel. He killed himself in 1737, at the height of his career. With his death, the fashion of large allegorical ceilings disappeared.

Biography Lemoyne was born in Paris in 1688 and studied under Louis Galloche until 1713. In 1711, Lemoyne won the Prix de Rome and travelled to Italy to continue his studies. Only one Salon had been held since 1704 (in 1725), so this offered a rare opportunity for public exhibition of paintings. Twelve paintings were submitted in all, by artists including Charles-Antoine Coypel and Noel-Nicholas Coypel. When the work was complete, he received "unanimous praise," including accolades from Voltaire and Cardinal Fleury. His career was at its peak in 1736, when he was appointed Premier peintre du Roi.

Lemoyne has been characterized by David Wakefield as "industrious, painstaking and serious."

Works Ruth and Booz (1711), the painting he won the Prix de Rome with. Hercules and Omphale (1724), currently in the Louvre, Paris. Continence of Scipio (1727), the painting he displayed at the 1727 competition. Narcissus (1728) Venus and Adonis (1729) Ceiling of the Salon d'Hercule in Versailles (1736) Arch of the Church of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin in Paris Diane chasseresse Les Nymphes He also worked at Saint-Sulpice and at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy (1737), currently at the Wallace Collection, London.