Enfilade

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Young Shepherd Holding a Flower, detail, 1760–61, oil on oval canvas, 72.5 × 59.5 cm
(Paris: Petit Palais, PDUT1192)

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Greuze was born on this day (August 21) 300 years ago; the exhibition opens next month at the Petit Palais:

Jean-Baptiste Greuze: L’enfance en lumière

Petit Palais, Paris, 16 September 2025 — 25 January 2026

Curated by Annick Lemoine, Yuriko Jackall, and Mickaël Szanto

A little-known and misunderstood artist today, Greuze was nonetheless acclaimed by the public, adulated by critics, and sought after by the greatest collectors.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725–1805) is undoubtedly one of the most important and daring figures of 18th-century France. To mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, the Petit Palais is paying tribute to this painter of portraits and genre scenes, who knew more than anyone else how to translate the human soul. This exhibition invites visitors to rediscover Greuze’s work through the prism of a central theme in his painting: childhood. Echoing the preoccupations of the philosophers Diderot, Rousseau, and Condorcet, the artist invites us to reflect on the place of the child within the family, the responsibility of parents in the child’s development, and the importance of education in shaping the child’s personality. With empathy, the artist questions the place of children in 18th-century society, their future, and their emancipation. He mirrors the major issues of his time. He also examines the transition to adulthood and the birth of love. Using the codes of his time, he tackles the theme of consent, which is strikingly topical today. Bringing together around a hundred paintings, drawings, and prints from all over the world, this exhibition is an opportunity to rediscover the singular work of this major artist of the Age of Enlightenment.

Curators
• Annick Lemoine, General Curator of Heritage, Director of the Petit Palais
• Yuriko Jackall, Director of the Department of European Art & Allan and Elizabeth Shelden Curator of European Paintings, Detroit Institute of Arts
• Mickaël Szanto, Senior Lecturer, Sorbonne University

Annick Lemoine, Yuriko Jackall, and Mickaël Szanto, Jean-Baptiste Greuze: l’enfance en lumière (Paris Musées, 2025), 304 pages, ISBN: 978-2759606177, €49.

Now on view in Tournus:

Greuze, une palette d’émotions: Dessins du Louvre et oeuvres de Tournus

Hôtel-Dieu, Musée de Tournus, 24 May — 21 September 2025

Curated by Xavier Salmon

To mark the 300th anniversary of the artist’s birth in 1725, the famous Burgundy town where he was born has joined forces with the Musée du Louvre to pay him a well-deserved tribute. Chosen from the rich collection of the Cabinet des Dessins, thirty of the master’s works reflect both his creative process and his desire to turn some of his most accomplished drawings into works in their own right, destined for a clientele of connoisseurs and collectors. All the master’s favorite themes are illustrated here: genre scenes, moralistic subjects, expressive heads, and portraits. They underline the extent to which Denis Diderot was right when he described Jean-Baptiste Greuze as a “delicate and sensitive soul” who had imposed himself on his century.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze: Les dessins du Louvre (Dijon: Éditions Faton, 2025), 80 pages, ISBN: 978-2878443981, €18.