# Nicolas Lancret artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/nicolas-lancret/
Profile generated: 2026-05-18T23:08:45.460Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1690-09-22
- Death date: 1743-09-14
- Nationality: French
- Movements: Rococo, Fête galante
- Common media: oil painting, gouache, drawing

## About Nicolas Lancret

Nicolas Lancret (1690–1743) was a French painter and draftsman celebrated for his elegant depictions of aristocratic leisure, garden parties, and theatrical comedy. Born in Paris, he trained in the academic tradition but gravitated toward the lighter, decorative subjects that defined the French Rococo. Active during the Regency of the Duke of Orléans and the early reign of Louis XV, Lancret captured the manners, fashions, and amusements of Parisian society with a refined palette and compositional charm. His work is often discussed alongside that of Antoine Watteau, whose fête galante tradition Lancret extended into a more narrative and theatrical register. Lancret also served as a court painter and produced gouaches, expanding his reach beyond easel paintings. His works are held in major museum collections across Europe and North America, and he remains a recognizable figure in the Old Master market.

## Common works and media

Collectors most frequently encounter Lancret's oil paintings on canvas or panel depicting outdoor entertainments, conversational gatherings, and theatrical or commedia dell'arte scenes. He also produced gouaches and finished drawings. Many compositions exist in multiple versions or copies, which can complicate attribution. Prints and engravings after his paintings were widely circulated in the 18th century and occasionally surface as individual works. Common subjects include garden parties, musical performances, dances, and allegorical or seasonal themes rendered in a Rococo palette.

## Market and appraisal context

Lancret's works appear regularly in Old Master Paintings and Old Master Drawings auctions. Value depends heavily on secure attribution, as his style can resemble Watteau's, and misattributions have occurred historically. Oil paintings of fête galante, theatrical, and pastoral subjects tend to attract the strongest collector interest. Provenance linking a work to notable French collections or to the artist's documented oeuvre can meaningfully affect appraisal outcomes. Condition is a significant factor given the age of the works: collectors and appraisers should account for potential relining, inpainting, and varnish degradation. Gouaches and drawings by Lancret also appear at auction, typically at lower price points than major oils.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. This page draws on authority files from the Getty Union List of Artist Names, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, VIAF, Wikidata, and biographical context from Wikipedia to establish identity, dates, and artistic context.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/47768
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188172
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500029432
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/17285391/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Lancret
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n91014892