A Courtier’s Wit: The Life and Art of Joseph Ducreux Joseph Ducreux, a name perhaps unfamiliar to many outside the circles of art history, occupies a fascinating niche in the late 18th-century French artistic landscape. Born in Nancy in 1735, his journey from the workshop of his painter father to becoming *premier peintre de la reine* – First Painter to Queen Marie Antoinette – is a testament to both talent and opportune timing. The s…