Desportes, Alexandre-François

Desportes, Alexandre-François (älĕksäN`drə-fräNswä` dāpôrt`), 1661–1743, French painter. He is best known for his hunting scenes and paintings of animals. Desportes, who began as a portrait painter, was among the first to paint landscapes from nature; for that practice he was held to be eccentric. His works are in the tradition of careful realism of Flemish still-life paintings. The Louvre and the Wallace Collection, London, have examples of his work.