Background
Boullogne was born in Paris, a son of the painter Louis Boullogne. He was regarded as the most gifted of his children. He took his first lessons from his father, whom he is thought to have assisted in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre.
Through his father, who presented a half-length figure of Street John by Bon to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Contrôleur Général des Finances, he was sent to the Académie de France in Rome as a Pensionnaire du Roi.