Collection: LEFRANC BOURGEOIS

The story of Lefranc Bourgeois, the founding brand of Beaux-Arts since 1720, begins in Paris, near the banks of the Seine. Charles Laclef, an ancestor of the Lefranc family and an apothecary by trade, met the painter Jean-Siméon Chardin, one of the greatest French and European painters of the 18th century, and began to produce colours.

The painter's studio is located above the shop, on the top floor. The flat with the glass roof was too small to allow the painter to grind the colours, so he naturally turned to the shop downstairs to prepare them. Very quickly, the two men appreciated each other and a complicity developed. The painter entrusted Charles Laclef with the grinding of his pigments and quickly introduced him to the production of colours. On the shelves of his small Parisian shop, pigments, like food for the soul, rub shoulders with spices. 

Between passion and heritage, this apprenticeship was a real success for him, since in 1753, the passionate chemist Charles Laclef became the official supplier of paintings to the Château de Versailles. In 1722, Louis XV reinstalled the government of the château, fitted out the Petit Trianon and enriched the gardens. Thanks to its reputation and know-how, the House of Lefranc thus became part of history by participating in the historical ornaments that would make Versailles world famous.