Louis Dorigny, part of a French family of painters, draughtsmen and printmakers. Michel Dorigny (1616-1665) was one of the principal collaborators with Simon Vouet and probably the best engraver of his works. After Vouet's death, he became an independent painter of considerable reputation. Had he not died at a relatively young age, he might have rivalled Charles Le Brun as an important history and decorative painter during the reign of Louis XIV. His sons Louis Dorigny and Nicolas Dorigny (1658-1746) were also painters and printmakers. Louis Dorigny trained with his father and was a follower of Charles Le Brun. In 1671 he went to Italy, where he worked as a decorative painter and engraver for the rest of his life, with the exception of the years 1704-06, when he was in Paris, hoping to be received (reçu) as a member of the Académie Royale, and 1711-12, when he visited Vienna to decorate the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy (now Austrian Ministry of Finance). He was at first active in Rome, Umbria and the Marches. In 1678 he settled in Venice, where he decorated churches and palazzi in the city and on the mainland, painting in both fresco and oils. Among his works are the ceiling of S Silvestro (1678) and decorations at the Palazzo Museli. In 1687 he moved permanently to Verona and decorated, notably, the cathedrals at Udine and Trento, as well as working at the Villa Rotonda near Vicenza (c. 1700-04) and the Villa Allegri at Grezzana (1717-20). Among his works in oils are Joseph Explaining his Dreams to Pharaoh (Verona, S Nicolò) and Susanna and the Elders (Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts). His engravings include 32 plates for the Penseés chrétiennes of Pere Bonhours (1684) and six illustrations for Ovid's Metamorphoses. //