Paris, Le Parc Monceau; and Le Cours La Reine

Born in Paris in 1740, Louis-Gabriel Moreau trained under Pierre-Antoine Demachy and, like his master, favored the architecture of Paris and the landscapes of its environs as his subject. His moniker, ‘Moreau l’Aîné’ (‘Moureau the Elder’), was coined in an attempt to distinguish the artist's work from that of his precocious younger brother, Jean-Michel. Indeed, when this charming pair of views, depicting the Parc Monceau and Cours La Reine, was exhibited at the Musée Carnavalet in 1928 (loc. cit.), they were mistakenly attributed to his brother, just one year his junior.
‌Though he was accepted into the Académie de Saint-Luc, Louis-Gabriel’s preference for landscapes may have been the cause of his exclusion from the Royal Academy of Paintings and Sculpture, despite his attempts to gain admission in 1787 and 1788. While the Louvre was undergoing renovations to transform it into a public museum and gallery, the artist lived in its buildings. There, employed by the Count of Artois, he painted romanticized landscapes and images of ruins. In 1793, following the outbreak of the Revolution, the Louvre opened its doors to the public and Louis-Gabriel worked within the museum, as a restorer and conservator of its collection.