Jean Ranc

Jean Ranc (28 January 1674 – 1 July 1735) was a French painter, mainly active in portraiture. He trained under his father Antoine Ranc and his father's former student Hyacinthe Rigaud and served in the courts of both Louis XV of France and (from 1723 onwards) Philip V of Spain.

Ranc "the younger" was born in Montpellier, the son of the provincial portraitist Antoine Ranc "the elder". Antoine had a personal collection of paintings by the European masters, and received many young artists into his studio, including Hyacinthe Rigaud from 1671.

Jean Ranc moved to Paris in 1696, and became the student of Rigaud, working in his studio. Ranc registered with the Académie on 30 December 1700, being received into it on 28 July 1703 as a portraitist for his portraits of Nicolas Van Plattenberg, known as "Platte-Montagne" (1631–1706) and that of François Verdier (1651–1730). Despite aspirations to become a history painter, he was never received as such by the Académie.

Jean Ranc then became established as a portraitist to the Parisian bourgeoisie and produced a large number of paintings in the styles of Rigaud and Nattier; Ranc was cheaper than Rigaud. On 13 June 1715 he married his god-daughter and the niece of his teacher, Marguerite Elisabeth Rigaud, daughter of the painter Gaspard.

On the Bourbons' arrival in Spain with the coronation of Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV of France, none of the French painters sent to Spain seemed to be making any impact. Repeated excuses were made to the French court for the low quality of the portraits sent them by the Spanish Bourbons. Philip V wrote to Versailles in 1721 not only to obtain a beautiful portrait of the teenage Louis XV but also to obtain a French painter worthy of this name amidst the famous triumvirate De Troy, Largillierre and Rigaud. Rigaud was most preferred by Philip, having painted him masterfully in 1701, but Rigaud guided him towards the young artists better suited to moving to a far-off country, such as Jean Raoux from Montpellier. Raoux refused the offer and next Rigaud thought of Jean Ranc, who had married Rigaud's niece in 1715. All these transactions were aided by cardinal Dubois, then first minister to Louis XV. Thus began Ranc's main career.

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