Louise Moillon (1610–1696) was a French still life painter in the Baroque era.
Her parents were Calvinists and the family lived in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, an area of Paris that was an enclave of Protestant refugees from the southern Netherlands.
Louise was educated in painting from her father, who was a landscape and portrait painter, art dealer, and member of the Académie de Saint-Luc. After his death, she continued her education in painting with her step father who also was a painter and art dealer.
Moillon is one of the best still life painters of her time, and her work was purchased by King Charles I of England, as well as French nobility.
Her work show the influence of Flemish painting in their trompe l’oeil effects but are characteristically French in their elegance. Moreover, it is characterized by stillness and acute detail, such as the texture of exotic fruit glowingly displayed against a dark background.
Although Moillon painted still-lifes, human figures sometimes appeared in the background of her pieces and thus she was one of the first French still-life artists to combine figures and still-life before 1650.
Moillon created about 40 paintings during her lifetime and the majority of them were executed in the 1630s, before her marriage in 1640 to Etienne Girardot de Chancourt. Her last dated work is from 1674.
