William Delacour (also known as William Delacourt or William De la Cour) (1700–1767) was a French painter. He was active from 1741 until 1767. His work is held in the collection of the

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facil ...

Biography

William Delacour is believed to have been either born in France or in Great Britain to French parents. From historical record, it is known that he became active in Great Britain in 1740. It was then that he was painting

theatrical scenery Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether the item was custom-made or ...

. He created scenery for operas by

Giovanni Battista Pescetti Giovanni Battista Pescetti (c. 170420 March 1766) was an organist, harpsichordist, and composer known primarily for his operas and keyboard sonatas. Musicologist and University of California, Santa Barbara professor John E. Gillespie wrote that Pe ...

. He also may have designed works for John Rich. Around 1750, he published eight different books, called ''Books of Ornaments'', about

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

design. As of 1752, records show him calling himself a portrait painter. He worked in

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

and

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

s. He also painted

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

in Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh. He settled in Edinburgh in March 1760 and was appointed the first Master of the Trustees' Academy. He also worked for private clients, including interior decoration, such as the drawing room of Milton House on the

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

. Delacour died in 1767, in Edinburgh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delacour, William 1700 births 1767 deaths French scenic designers French expatriates in the Kingdom of Great Britain Rococo painters National College of Art and Design People associated with Edinburgh 18th-century French painters French male painters Place of birth unknown French portrait painters Academics of the Trustees' Academy 18th-century French male artists