Jacques-Philippe Le Bas


Jacques-Philippe Le Bas or Lebas was a French engraver.

Life and work

Lebas was engraver to the Cabinet du roi and successfully produced engravings after several paintings by different artists. His oeuvre amounts to more than 500 works, including many large portraits after Vernet, and several works after van de Velde, Parrocel, Berchem, Ruysdaël, Watteau, Oudry and Lancret. He trained the line engraver François-Anne David.
He served time in the army from 1739 to 1741, but was ultimately thrown out, because of philosical disagreements with his commanding officer.
He created many pictures commemorating his time in the army. Of particular mention are his works Halte des Gardes Suisses and Detachement de Cavalerie, pictures that go for great amounts of money at auctions.

Selected works