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Tournières hailed from the city of Caen, a port city and the capitol of the Calvados region. After an apprenticeship with an obscure painter from his hometown he enrolled in the Académie de Saint-Luc in Paris. In 1695 he was received as a master painter and continued his training with Bon Boullogne (1649-1717) and Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743). Tournières possessed a unique style, being fond of dark backgrounds, where architectural details, foliage and sky can be guessed more than they can be seen. His mastery of the figure is displayed by his skillful representation of moving hands and the delicate and precise utilization of natural coloring.

Tournières was notable for being received twice into the Académie royal de peinture – first in 1702 as a portrait painter, with his portraits of the painters Pierre Mosnier and Michel Corneille; and then in 1716, as a history painter, with his Invention of drawing (1716), showing a pair of lovers lit by a single candle