Biography

Born Paris 2 May 1711 into a family of painters, Hallé originally trained as an architect, but received artistic training from his father Claude-Guy Hallé and from his brother-in-law Jean Restout. He won the Prix de Rome in 1736 with The Crossing of the Red Sea (location unknown) and went to study there 1737-44, where his style was strongly shaped by that of the Academy’s director, Jean-François de Troy. His prolonged stay, three years more than normal, was on account of his completing the tapestry cartoons for the Gobelins after Raphael’s Stanze in the Vatican. In the course of his career Hallé frequently worked on a large scale for tapestry designs, the greatest example of which is his Race of Atalanta and Hippomenes of 1765 (Louvre, Paris) and in 1771 he became overseer of the Gobelins. After his return to France he received many commissions for religious paintings, and frequently worked for the Crown providing a number of history paintings for royal residences. In 1775 he was placed in charge of reorganising the French Academy in Rome. Hallé died in Paris 5 June 1781.