Saint Augustine Baptized by Saint Ambrose, French School, second half of the 18th century

Laurent Pécheux (1729–1821), attributed to

Large oil on canvas depicting “Saint Augustine baptized by Saint Ambrose of Milan, in the presence of his son and his friend Alypius.”

French School, second half of the 18th century

Dimensions: Height 245 cm x Width 380 cm

Laurent Pécheux (Lyon, 1729 – Turin, 1821) was an 18th-century French painter, born on July 17, 1729, in Lyon. After studying at the Jesuit college in his native city, he continued his artistic training in Paris in the studio of Charles Natoire. Back in Lyon, he established connections with the sculptor Augustin Pajou and the painter Gabriel-François Doyen.

Encouraged by his family, Pécheux traveled to Rome in 1753, where he met artists such as Anton Raphael Mengs and Pompeo Batoni, leading figures of the Roman school. Two years later, he worked for a Scottish lord before accepting various commissions for convents and private patrons in Lyon.

In 1762, Pécheux was admitted to the Académie de Saint-Luc. Three years later, he went to Parma to paint portraits of the ducal family, including that of Marie Louise of Parma, the future Queen of Spain. From 1772 onward, he taught at the Accademia del Nudo in Rome. He later moved to Turin, where he was appointed director of the Academy and executed frescoes for the Royal Library and the Church of San Domenico.

Renowned as both a portraitist and a history painter, Pécheux received commissions from prominent figures of his time, including Pope Pius VI and Catherine II of Russia. In France, he is notably known for a cycle of twelve large canvases depicting the life of Christ at the Collégiale Notre-Dame de Dole, commissioned in 1762 by Abbé Delamarre. Laurent Pécheux died on July 1, 1821, in Turin.