Portrait of Laurent Cars by Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, pastel, 1745, now at the Louvre.

Laurent Cars (28 May 1699 – 14 April 1771) was a French designer and engraver.

He was born at Lyon, the son of Jean-François Cars, who took him when quite young to Paris, where it was not long before he distinguished himself. In 1733 he was received as an Academician upon his portraits of Michel Anguier and Sébastien Bourdon. Cars, who was the master of Beauvarlet, may be considered one of the best French engravers of the 18th century, in the kind of subjects he selected. He died in Paris in 1771. His best plates are those engraved after Lemoyne, particularly that of 'Hercules and Omphale,' and the series of illustrations after Boucher's designs to the Comedies of Molière, and after Oudry to the Fables of La Fontaine. His work is extensive; the following are his principal plates:

Portraits

Raymond du Puy de Provence, portrait from circa 1725.

• Louis XV, an allegorical portrait; after Lemoyne.
• Louis XV, an allegorical subject; after Boucher.
• Stanislaus, King of Poland; after van Loo.
• Michel Anguier, sculptor; after Revel.
• Cardinal Armand Gaston de Rohan; after Rigaud.
• Marie Leszczinska, Queen of France; after Van Loo.
• François Boucher, painter; after Cochin, fils.
• Jean Baptiste Chardin, painter; after Cochin, fils.
• Madame Chardin; after Cochin, fils.
• Mlle. Camargo, dancing; after Lancret.
• Mlle. Clairon, in the part of Medea.

Subjects after various masters

Iris at the bath, 1731, after Lemoyne.

• The Adoration of the Shepherds; after van Loo.
• The Flight into Egypt; after van Loo.
• Bathsheba at the Bath; after De Troy.
• Susannah and the Elders; after De Troy.
• Adam and Eve in Paradise; after Lemoyne.
• Hercules and Omphale; after Lemoyne.
• Perseus and Andromeda; after Lemoyne.
• The Sacrifice of Iphigenia; after Lemoyne.
• Hercules and Cacus; after Lemoyne.
• Iris at the Bath; after Lemoyne.(pictured)
• Cephalus and Aurora; after Lemoyne.
• The Rape of Europa; after Lemoyne.
• Time discovering Truth; after Lemoyne.
• Monument in honour of the Duke of Marlborough.
• Silence; after Greuze.
• L'Aveugle trompé, after Greuze.
• The Fortune-teller; after Watteau.
• The Venetian Festival; after Watteau.
• A Convoy of Equipages; after Watteau.

Further reading

• Adhémar, Jean (1964). Graphic Art of the 18th Century. New York: McGraw–Hill. pp. 25, 26, 28, 33, 42, 122. OCLC 1153272927 – via the Internet Archive.
• Bellier de la Chavignerie, Émile [in French] and Auvray, Louis (1882). Dictionnaire général des artistes de l'école française depuis l'origine des arts du dessin jusqu'à nos jours (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Renouard. pp. 204–205. OCLC 1042892305 – via the Internet Archive.
• Bénézit, Emmanuel (2006) [first published in French in 1911–1923]. Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Vol. 3. Paris: Gründ. p. 488–489. ISBN 2-7000-3073-7 – via the Internet Archive.
• Blumer, Marie-Louise (1956). "Cars". In Prevost, Michel; Roman d'Amat, Jean-Charles; et al. (eds.). Dictionnaire de biographie française (in French). Vol. 7. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. cols. 1265–1267.
• Bryan, Michael (1903). Williamson, George Charles (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan. pp. 261–262. OCLC 1041486024 – via the Internet Archive.
• Brisac, Marc [in French] (8 December 2023). "Cars, Laurent". In Thieme, Ulrich (ed.). Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler (in German). Vol. 6. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann. pp. 82–83. OCLC 1039486564 – via the Internet Archive.
• Fontenai, Louis Abel de [in French] (1776). Dictionnaire des artistes (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Vincent. pp. 329–330. OCLC 1043036079 – via the Internet Archive.
• Fuhring, Peter; et al. (2015). A Kingdom of Images: French Prints in the Age of Louis XIV, 1660-1715 (exhibition catalogue). Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute. ISBN 978-2-7177-2663-3.
• Hind, Arthur M. (1963). A History of Engraving & Etching from the 15th Century to the Year 1914 (3rd, fully rev. ed.). New York: Dover. pp. 200, 213, 370. OCLC 1035610203 – via the Internet Archive.
• McAllister Johnson, William (1993). "La gravure d'histoire en France au XVIIIe siècle (I)". Revue de l'Art (in French). 99 (99): 29–44. doi:10.3406/rvart.1993.348087 – via Persee.fr.
• Meyer, Véronique (1996). "Cars, Laurent". In Turner, Jane (ed.). The Dictionary of Art. Vol. 5. New York: Grove's Dictionaries. p. 884. ISBN 1-884446-00-0. OCLC 1033664864 – via the Internet Archive.
• Meyer, Véronique (1997). "Cars". In Kasten, Eberhard; et al. (eds.). Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (in German). Vol. 16. München, Leipzig: Saur. pp. 622–624. ISBN 3-598-22756-6.
• Montaiglon, Anatole de (1881). Procès-verbaux de l'Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, 1648-1793 (in French). Vol. 5. Paris: J. Baur. OCLC 1050839260 – via the Internet Archive.
• Portalis, Roger; Béraldi, Henri (1880). "Cars (Laurent)". Les graveurs du dix-huitième siècle (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: D. Morgand et C. Fatout. pp. 301–319. OCLC 1050268094 – via the Internet Archive.
• Roux, Marcel (1934). Inventaire du fonds français, graveurs du XVIIIe siècle (in French). Vol. 3. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France. pp. 454–517 – via Gallica.

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