Louis de Boullogne the Younger was the youngest of Louis de Boullogne’s four children, all of whom were trained by their father and became painters. Louis the Younger was at first discouraged to become an artist for fear of rivalry with his brother Bon, but was finally allowed to follow the family tradition. After five years in Rome where, like his father before him, he learned to copy masterpieces of the Italian masters, he returned to Paris to establish a considerable reputation and earn a large fortune, becoming the director of the Académie Royale and the First Painter to the King, and producing religious paintings for Parisian churches and mythological subjects for royal residences.