Charles François de Silvestre

1667 Paris – 1738 Versailles

The painter, draughtsman and engraver, Charles François de Silvestre, hailed from a respected French artist family with many branches. Appropriately enough, given his family background, he was artistically successful early on in life, taking up the office of draughtsman to the pages of the Great Royal Stables in Versailles at the age of fourteen. In 1691 he was given a studio in the Louvre; in 1695 he was appointed to the office of drawing master to the children of the king and in 1717 to that of a draughtsman of Louis XV.