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 son of Charles Ducreux, who served Stanisław Leszczyński, the exiled King of Poland, Joseph’s initial artistic education was steeped in the traditions of courtly…