Greuze, Jean-Baptiste (1725-1805), French painter, born in Tournus. He studied art in Lyon and in Paris, where he became a leading genre painter. The moralistic subject of the first painting he exhibited, The Father Reading the Bible to His Children (1755, Louvre, Paris), was in marked contrast to the playful, decorative subjects of the then-dominant rococo style. The work was approved by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which Greuze joined as an associate in 1769. He went on to paint a great number of artificial, moralistic genre works, including The Village Bride (1761, Louvre) and The Wool Winder (1759, Frick Collection, New York City). Greuze is today considered more important for his honest, unpretentious portraits, both of political figures, such as Robespierre and Napoleon, and of children. His forceful, free chalk drawings are also much admired.