Antoine-Jean Gros(French pronunciation:[ɑ̃twanʒɑ̃gʁo];16 March 1771 – 25 June 1835) was a French painter ofhistorical subjects.He was granted the title ofBaron Grosin 1824.[1][2]
Antoine-Jean Gros | |
|---|---|
 Gros at age 20; portrait byFrançois Gérard,c. 1791 | |
| Born | 16 March 1771 Paris,France |
| Died | 25 June 1835(aged 64) nearMeudon,France |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Education | Collège Mazarin |
| Known for | History painting |
Gros studied underJacques-Louis Davidin Paris and began an independent artistic career during theFrench Revolution.Forced to leave France, Gros moved toGenoa.Hisportrait of French commander Napoleon Bonaparteat theBattle of Arcolein 1796 brought Gros to public attention and gained the patronage ofNapoleon.[3][4]After traveling with Napoleon's army for several years, he returned to Paris in 1799. In addition to producing several large paintings of battles and other events in Napoleon's life, Gros was a successful portraitist.
Early life and training
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Born inParis,Gros began learning to draw at the age of six from his father,Jean-Antoine Gros,[5]who was aminiaturepainter, and showed himself to be a gifted artist. His mother,Pierrette-Madeleine-Cécile Durand,was also a painter.[6]Towards the close of 1785, Gros, by his own choice, entered the studio ofJacques-Louis David,which he frequented assiduously, continuing at the same time to follow the classes of theCollège Mazarin.[7]
The death of his father, whose circumstances had been embarrassed by theFrench Revolution,threw Gros upon his own resources in 1791. He now devoted himself wholly to his profession, and he competed (unsuccessfully) in 1792 for thegrand prix.Around this time, however, on the recommendation of theÉcole des Beaux Arts,he painted portraits of the members of theNational Convention,but as the Revolution developed, Gros left France in 1793 for Italy.[7]
Genoa and Bonaparte
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Gros supported himself inGenoaas a portraitist. He visitedFlorenceand returned to Genoa, where he metJoséphine de Beauharnais.Following her toMilan,Gros was well received by her husband,Napoleon Bonaparte.[7]
After Gros painted the sceneBonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole,Bonaparte gave him the post ofinspecteur aux revues,which allowed Gros to follow the army. In 1797, Gros was charged with selecting the spoils for theLouvre.[7]
Paris
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In 1799, Gros left Genoa and made his way to Paris. In the beginning of 1801, he took up his quarters in theCapucins.His study for the painting of theBattle of Nazareth,now in theMusée d'Arts de Nantes,gained the prize offered in 1802 by theconsuls,but the project was not carried out, owing, it is said,[8]to Napoleon's jealousy ofJean-Andoche Junot,the general in the painting. Gros was commissioned to paintBonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa,which is now in the Louvre. This was followed in 1806 by Gros'sBataille d’Aboukir, 25 Juillet 1799(Joachim Muratat theBattle of Abukir) now at Versailles;[9]and in 1808 by hisNapoléon sur le champ de bataille d'Eylau, le 9 février 1807(Napoleon at the battlefield after theBattle of Eylau) now in the Louvre.[10][11]
Salon of 1804
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At the Salon of 1804, Gros debuted his paintingBonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa.The painting launched his career as a successful painter. It depicts Bonaparte inJaffavisiting soldiers infected with thebubonic plague.He is portrayed reaching out to one of the sick, unfazed by the illness. According to P. Jill Morse, Napoleon commissioned Gros to paint the scene to neutralize British propaganda. The propaganda focused on two episodes of the Egyptian campaign (1798-1800). First when he ordered the massacre of Turkish prisoners. Second, when he ordered the death by poison of French soldiers suffering from the plague. The painting showed a compassionate Napoleon visiting the sick at the plague hospital. Morse adds that Gros was probably using the disease as a metaphor for the vanity of Napoleon and his First Empire.[12]
While Bonaparte did actually visit the pesthouse, later, as his army prepared to withdraw from Syria, he ordered the poisoning (withlaudanum) of about fifty of his plague-infected men.[13]
Later life
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In 1810, hisMadridandNapoleon at the Pyramids(Versailles) show that Napoleon had deserted him. HisFrancis IandCharles V,1812 (Louvre), had considerable success.
Fame
editGros was made a member of theLegion of Honouron 22 October 1808 by Napoleon,[14]after the Salon of 1808, where he had exhibited theBattle of Eylau.[11]Gros had many pupils and gained considerably more after David left Paris in 1815.[7]
Under theBourbon Restoration,Gros became a member of theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts,[15]a professor at theÉcole des Beaux-Arts,and a member of theOrder of Saint Michael.[citation needed]He was granted the title ofbaronin 1824 by KingCharles X of France.[1]
Gros inspiredEugène Delacroix,especially with his work in lithography. The two both worked during the same time period, and both did portraits of Napoleon. However, at one point, Gros had referred to Delacroix'sChios and Missolonghias "a massacre of art".[citation needed]
G. Dargentyproduced a book on the subject entitledLes Artistes célèbres. Le Bon Gros(1887).[16]
M. Delcluze gave a brief notice of his life inLouis David et son temps( "Louis David and his times" ), and Julius Meyer'sGeschichte der modernen französischen Malerei( "History of Modern French Painting" ) contains whatBritannicacites as an excellent criticism on his works.[7]
Iconography
edit| Image | Title | Date | Dimensions | Collection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Autoportrait | 1795 | Palace of Versailles | |
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Madame Pasteur | 1795–1796 | The Louvre | |
| Portrait of Madame Bruyere | 1796 | 79 × 65 cm | Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery | |
|
Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole | 1796 | 130 × 94 cm | Palace of Versailles |
| The Death of Timophanes | 1798 | 44.4 × 57.6 cm | The Louvre | |
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Portrait of Christine Boyer | c. 1800 | 214 × 134 cm | The Louvre |
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The Battle of Nazareth | 1801 | 136.1 x 196.4 cm | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes |
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Sappho at Leucate | 1801 | 122 × 100 cm | Musée Baron Gérard, Bayeux |
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Bonaparte, First Consul | 1802 | 205 × 127 cm | Musée de la Légion d'honneur |
|
Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa | 1804 | 715 × 523 cm | The Louvre |
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Gérard-Christophe-Michel Duroc, duc de Frioul (1772–1813) | 1805 | 218 × 142 cm | Palace of Versailles |
|
Battle of Aboukir, 25 July 1799 | 1806 | 578 × 968 cm | Palace of Versailles |
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Battle of Eylau, 9 February 1807 | 1807 | 104.9 × 145.1 cm | The Louvre |
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Impératrice Joséphine | 1808 | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice | |
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Portrait of the French composer Pierre Zimmermann | 1808 | 118.5 × 91 cm | Palace of Versailles |
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Equestrian portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte | c. 1808 | 321 × 265 cm | Palace of Versailles |
|
Equestrian portrait of Prince Boris Yusupov | 1809 | 321 × 266 cm | Pushkin Museum |
|
Battle of the Pyramids | 1810 | 389 × 311 cm | Palace of Versailles |
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Napoleon accepts the surrender of Madrid, 4 December 1808 | 1810 | 361 × 500 cm | Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles) |
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The Horse of Mustapha Pasha | c. 1810 | 89 × 175 cm | Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie de Besançon |
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Portrait of General Claude Legrand | c. 1810 | 245 × 172 cm | Palace of Versailles |
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Portrait of Second Lieutenant Charles Legrand | c. 1810 | 249 × 162 cm | Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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The Apotheosis of Saint Genevieve | 1811–1824 | Panthéon de Paris | |
| François I and Charles V Visiting the Church of Saint-Denis | 1812 | The Louvre | ||
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Equestrian portrait of Joachim Murat | 1812 | 89 × 175 cm | Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie de Besançon |
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General Baston de Lariboisière and his son Ferdinand | c. 1815 | Musée de l'Armée | |
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Honoré-Charles Baston de Lariboisière | 1815 | 73 × 59 cm | Private collection |
| Departure of Louis XVIII from the Palace of the Tuileries on the Night of 20 March 1815 | 1817 | 405 × 525 cm | Palace of Versailles | |
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Embarkation of Madame d'Angoulême | 1819 | 326 × 504 cm | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux |
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Count Jean-Antoine Chaptal | 1824 | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux | |
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Portrait of Madame Récamier | 1825 | 62.3 × 51.2 cm | Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts |
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The Genius of France Giving Life to the Arts and Protecting Humanity | c. 1827 | The Louvre | |
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Hercules and Diomedes | 1835 | 426 × 324 cm | Musée des Augustins |
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Portrait of Pierre Daru | 19th century | 216 × 142 cm | Palace of Versailles |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ab"Antoine-Jean Gros | An Introduction to 19th Century Art".Retrieved12 June2017.
- ^"Ministère de la culture – Baron Gros".Retrieved12 June2017.
- ^Jordan, David P. (24 July 2012).Napoleon and the Revolution.Palgrave Macmillan. p. 153.ISBN978-0-230-36281-9.
- ^Gueniffey, Patrice (2015).Bonaparte: 1769–1802.Harvard University Press. p. 288.ISBN978-0-674-36835-4.
- ^"The Napoleon Series".Archivedfrom the original on 30 March 2017.Retrieved23 July2016.
- ^Profile of Pierrette-Madeleine-Cécile DurandArchived10 August 2017 at theWayback Machineat theDictionary of Pastellists Before 1800.
- ^abcdefOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Gros, Antoine Jean, Baron".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 615.
- ^Fontainas, André (1906).Histoire de la peinture française au XIXme siècle (1801-1900)(in French) (second ed.). Paris: Société du Mercure de France. p.28.OCLC431638175.
- ^"Colonial History: The Battle of Aboukir".Art History for Filmmakers.20 July 2020.
- ^"Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau".Department of Paintings, The Louvre.
- ^abPrendergast, Christopher. (1997).Napoleon and History Painting: Antoine-Jean Gros's La Bataille d'Eylau.Oxford: Clarendon Press.ISBN0-19-817402-0
- ^P. Jill Morse, "The Medics in A. J. Gros's 'Bonaparte At The Pest House At Jaffa.'"Consortium on Revolutionary Europe 1750-1850: Selected Papers(2000), pp 147–164.
- ^Peterson, Robert K. D.; "Insects, Disease, and Military History: The Napoleonic Campaigns and Historical Perception";American Entomologist41:147–160. (1995)"Plague and the Syrian Campaign".Archived fromthe originalon 3 March 2016.Retrieved26 March2015.retvd 3 26 15
- ^"Ministère de la culture – Base Léonore".Retrieved12 June2017.
- ^"Ministère de la culture".Retrieved12 June2017.
- ^IdRef - Identifiants et Référentiels pour l'ESR.Archived30 October 2022 at theWayback MachineDetailed record:Notice bibliographique.
References
edit- Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate. (2006).Nineteenth-Century European Art.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:Prentice Hall.pp. 126–127.ISBN0-13-188643-6
External links
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- Antoine-Jean Gros– The J. Paul Getty Museum website
- Paintings by Antoine-Jean Gros
- Histoire de la vie et de la mort du baron Gros, le grand peintre,by J. Tripier Le Franc, 1880; includes anannotated list of the students of Grosand achronological catalogue of known works.