• Was a French draftsman noted for his portrait drawings.
• He was especially interested in grotesque physiognomies, which he drew in meticulous detail either from models or from his imagination.
• His drawings are usually executed in black and red chalk, sometimes with the addition of blue or yellow gouache.
• In their heightened realism, and their emphasis on facial expressions, wrinkles, and deformities, Lagneau's portraits reveal the influence of Rembrandt's early works.
• Lagneau is not known to have painted.
• His drawn portraits, which were widely copied and imitated in his time, attest to a fashion for drawings of "expressive faces", which were assembled into albums by collectors.
• Lagneau's drawings are plentiful in French and US museums.
