Brad Pitt is threatening take legal action over the publication of paparazzi photos of his family at home in France.

The move comes after snaps of the movie star and his family relaxing at their summer retreat hit the internet earlier this week, and Pitt learned the bosses of the agency behind the shots were offering the images to tabloids.

Pitt's lawyer, Yael Holtkamp, has served the agency with a cease and desist order, and claims the photos were "surreptitiously" taken by photographers with "highly powerful telephoto lenses".

The shots feature Pitt with new mum Angelina Jolie, his parents and their children playing in the garden of their rented French chateau.

Pitt and Jolie chose to spend the summer at Chateau Miraval in Provence because of the privacy and exclusivity the wine resort offered.

Holtkamp insists the publication of the photos violates the family's privacy rights.

The paparazzi agency behind the photos has already agreed to stop selling them and the images have been removed from its website.