| 1704 | Maurice-Quentin Delatour is born in Saint-Quentin. |
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| Circa 1719 | Believed to be the date of Maurice-Quentin Delatour’s first visit to Paris. |
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| 1724-1725 | Maurice-Quentin Delatour lives in Cambrai, where he paints his first portraits. |
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| Circa 1725 | Maurice-Quentin Delatour travels to London. |
| 1717 | Voltaire receives a lettre de cachet. |
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| 1720-1721 | Rosalba Carriera visits Paris, where she is accepted as a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. |
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| 1721 | Birth of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, the future Marquise de Pompadour. |
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| 1723 | Louis XV accedes to the throne (r. 1723-1774). |
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