Michel Ange Houasse was a French painter, most of whose career was spent at the court of Philip V of Spain

Philip V of Spain

Philip V was King of Spain from 15 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a...

, who summoned him to the court in Madrid in 1715 whilst he was still Philip of Anjou. (Michel Ange had already trained in the studio of his father, René-Antoine Houasse

René-Antoine Houasse

René-Antoine Houasse was a decorative French painter.He was a pupil of Charles Le Brun, under whose direction he worked at the Manufacture des Gobelins, and with whom he worked on the decoration of the Château de Versailles. He was the director of the French Academy in Rome from 1699 to 1704...

.) Michel Ange produced many portraits of the Spanish royal family, including ones of the future king Louis I. He introduced Spain to mythological and rural scenes he had learned from Flemish Baroque art. His taste for pastoral and bucolic genre scenes resulted in paintings such as Blind man's buff (in Spanish, La gallina ciega), clearly influenced by Watteau and itself a clear influence on Goya's oil on linen cartoon of the same name

Blind Man's Bluff (Goya)

Blind man's bluff is one of the Rococo oil-on-linen cartoons produced by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya for tapestries for the Royal Palace of El Pardo...

. In his later years he came into friction over works for the royal court with his fellow French artist Jean Ranc

Jean Ranc

Jean Ranc was a French painter, mainly active in portraiture. He trained under his father Antoine Ranc and his father's former student Hyacinthe Rigaud and served in the courts of both Louis XV of France and Philip V of Spain.- Early life:Ranc "the younger" was the son of the renowned provincial...

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Sources

• Biography on artehistoria.com
• Biographies and lives