Pierre-Louis Cretey

Place: Lyon

Biography:

Louis Cretey, formerly known as Pierre-Louis Cretey (c.1635, in Lyon - after 1702), was a French baroque painter and one of the leading masters in the Lyonnaise school. Little is known about the early life of this artist. Records place Cretey in Rome from 1661 to 1679, then Modena in 1679 - another place he probably worked was Parma. He then returned to France and spent most of his subsequent career in Lyon, gaining renown from the 1680s onwards as a history painter and for producing altarpieces like The Road to Emmaus (Lyon, Ste Blandine). He became Thomas Blanchet's main collaborator, working with him on many decorative schemes such as work at the Palais de Roanne (now Palais de Justice).