Hubert Drouais

Portrait of the sculptor Robert Le Lorrain, by Drouais, , Paris, Musée du Louvre.

Hubert Drouais (; 5 May 1699 – 9 February 1767) was a French painter, portraitist and miniaturist.

Drouais was born in Pont-Audemer in the Province of Normandy, the son of Anne Talon and the painter Jean Drouais. Hubert followed in his father’s footsteps and received his first lessons from him before leaving for Rouen to further his skills. He then decided to make it to Paris, although he was so poor that, unable to afford the cost of the trip, he had to work his way on the road to his destination.

He devoted himself particularly to the portrait, and was the best pupil of the portraitist François de Troy, who is linked through his own master and through Rigaud to the grand tradition of Van Dyck. He soon acquired an ease that made him look like one of the first painters in this genre. As he was making progress, he would visit his homeland, as if to honor it with his first successes.

On the death of Troy, Drouais was employed by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Jean-Marc Nattier. He had two children with Margaret Lusurier whom he had married on February 22, 1727. His son François-Hubert, whose first master he was, and his grandson Jean-Germain were painters like him and in his old age he had the satisfaction to see his son also enter the Académie de peinture.