Surnamed T HE G REAT . French painter, b. at Rouen in 1644, d.
at Paris, 5 April, 1717. In his family, of Italian extraction,
the painting instinct was hereditary. Noel Jouvenet, his
grandfather who had settled in Normandy, is believed to have
been the teacher of Poussin, while to Laurent Jouvenet, his
father, Jean owed his early instruction in art, before he was
sent by him to Paris in 1660. At that time the goldsmiths' guild
in the city planted a tree each year on 1 May in the enclosure
of Notre Dame, and presented a painting for the altar of Our
Lady. The greatest artists of the age painted some of these
works, which were known as mais . Jouvenet executed the painting
for the year 1673, the subject being the "Cure of the
Paralytic". His performance attracted the attention of Lebrun,
who enrolled the author in the group of artists then engaged in
decorating the palace of Versailles, under the direction of the
"premier peintre". Jouvenet was elected to the Academy in 1675,
and was appointed professor in 1681