Eugène Flandin

Eugène Flandin, with full name Jean -Baptiste Eugène Napoléon Flandin ( born August 18, 1809 in Naples, † September 29, 1889 in Tours ), was a French painter whose graphic documentation of archaeological sites still plays a role in scientific research.

His parents were Baptist Flandin (1777-1853), an administrator in Napoleon's army, and Marie- Agnès Durand (born 1792). Eugène's early childhood was closely associated with the profession of his father. He was only 2 years old when the family returned from Naples in 1811, where his father served under Joachim Murat Napoleon since 1807. During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, he was assigned to the Comte Pierre Bruno Daru. After 1815 he was an officer with half the payment in various military and administrative positions - mainly in Algeria. Because of " irregularities" in 1835, he had to prematurely leave the service. Now it was difficult to provide for the family with 4 children.

The Early Years

These troubled years were highly unfavorable for Eugène's education. Through its education and training time is not known. His father forced him into a military career, but he soon gave up in order to follow his true vocation. It is said that he studied in France or Italy, but according to most biographers, he was self-taught. That he was a pupil of Horace Vernet, without any foundation.

In 1834 he made ​​his first trip to Italy to study the old masters. 1835-36 he visited Venice and completed his training most likely in Belgium.

The first successes as a painter

His first exhibition at the Paris Salon in 1836 was a success, especially his landscapes of Venice and Naples. In 1837 he became a military draftsman of the French army in Algeria. In the same year he exhibited at the Paris Salon for his painting La prize de Constantine and various Algerian and Belgian subjects. He had debts he could not pay off by selling his paintings. 1838 to 1839 he turned again from his works in Paris and in the provinces. Consecutive participations at the Paris Salon - with the exception of the aforementioned 1853 and later in 1861 - not used.

With Coste in the Orient

1839 Flandin was together with the architecture professor Pascal Coste delegated by the Institut de France to the French Embassy in Persia. They stayed in Isfahan 2 years. With very few resources they set out on 31 May 1841 a trip through Hamadān, Kangavar, Bisotun where they Austen Henry Layard met, Ḥolwān, etc. Returning to Isfahan, it went to Shiraz and the Persian Gulf and back. From Persepolis Flandin made ​​many drawings, which should recommend him for his later work. They traveled to Tabriz, where incredible sanitary conditions hindered their way back from Trabzon or Tbilisi, so they had to take the road to Baghdad through Kurdistan. Coste praised both Flandins courage and fearlessness as well as his temper. Your schedule and their work was strictly organized. On the basis of extensive travel to 1841 the joint works " Voyage en Perse " (1843 ) and "La Perse ancienne " (1848 ) emerged. After his return was Flandin Knight of the Legion of Honour.

In Botta Khorsabad

Paul -Émile Botta, who undertook archaeological excavations in Assyria, had asked for the deployment of an artist who should draw his finds. The government came in October 1843 with this request. The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres suggested for this purpose Eugène Flandin, the was estimated because of his experiences in Persia. In May 1844, Flandin in Mosul and worked with Botta Khorsabad by the end of October. In Paris, he presented his work at the Academy, which appointed a commission with the evaluation. This was thrilled and, proposed to create an extra band with Flandins drawings, together with the explanatory reports Botta would give on his return, to study for scientists and artists. On 16 May 1845, the Academy to follow the Commission's proposal in the matter. So Botta and Flandin were rewarded for their work by publishing a series of magnificent folio editions whose costs contributed by the government.

Back in France

After his return to France he married in 1846 Elisabeth Leblanc to him in 1847 his only child, gave birth to a son. His paintings had not given him the expected success and could not save him from financial problems. So he turned to archaeological and administrative work. In 1849 he was elected mayor of Tours, in the arrondissement CERELLES, where he had his second residence. While he tried his little place to beautify, he divided his time between Paris, Normandy and Touraine. He also prepared his reports for publication.

When he retired in 1865 from his mayoralty, he was assigned to 1868 with responsibilities in the prefecture and other administrative tasks, mainly in the Indre- et -Loire.

Though his images often prices received in academic circles, Flandin was less famous than most of his contemporaries. Without a master or student, he drew no attention to the critics up. Some people thought he was a pupil of Vernet and even of Ingres. Also, he was often confused with Hippolyte Flandrin ( 1809-64 ) or his brother Paul ( 1811-1902 ). His painting " Assaut de Constantine " (1838 ), which had acquired Louis -Philippe for his palace in Neuilly, was torn to pieces during the revolution of 1848 by bayonets. ( Guyot de Fere ).

In the studio of Jules Laurens, he met Colonel F. Colombari, who was between 1833-48 in Persia, Prince Soltykoff, widow of Xavier de Hommaire Hell, another Persie travelers, and other painters. With its precision and accuracy Flandins paintings were no longer in demand and he retired early 1870 from the artist's life back, as the Impressionists slowly conquered the art world. His works are in museums or private collections of the province. They appear regularly in auctions.

Flandins publications

• "Voyage à Archaeological Nineveh: l'architecture assyrienne, " in Revue des deux Mondes, NS 10, 1845a, pp.. From 1081 to 1106.
• "Voyage à Archaeological Nineveh: la sculpture assyrienne " Revue des deux Mondes, NS 11, 1845b, pp.. 88-111.
• " Monument de Nineveh " [sic ], découvert et décrit par MPE Botta; Mesure et dessiné par ME Flandin, 5 vols., Paris, 1849-50.
• Accounts of his Persian travels in Revue des deux Mondes, Nouvelle période 7, 1850, pp. 114-41, 413-33; 10, 1851, pp. 651-81; 11, 1851, pp. 965-1000; 12, 1851, pp. 585-626; 15, 1852, pp. 1111-42.
• " Voyage en Perse " de MM Eugène Flandin, peintre, architecte et Pascal Coste, ..., 1 vol. and atlas of plates and maps in 4 vols, Paris, 1843-54; 2 vols. and atlas in 6 vols., Paris, 1851-54.
• "Reports on the Herat crisis and Anglo - Persian War of 1856-57 " in Revue des deux Mondes, Seconde période 7, 1857a, pp. 674-97 and in L' illustration, no 730, 21 February 1857b, pp. 115-18; no 731, 28 February 1857, pp. 131-34; no 731, 21 March 1857, pp. 179-82.
• " Voyage en Mésopotamie, 1840-42, " in Le Tour du Monde, 1861, 2e semestre, pp. 49-80; 1863 1er semestre ( plates only), pp. 305-36. L' Orient, 4 vols., Paris, 1853-67.
• "Histoire des Chevaliers de Rhodes ", Tours, 1864; 2nd edition Tours 1867 ( in quarto ); 3rd edition Tours, 1873; Reproduction Tours [? ], 1879
• Online Books in French

Flandins images in museums

• Le pont des soupirs à Venise, Musée d'Auch.
• Intérieur d'atelier, Musée de Caen.
• Vue prize à Tripoli de Syrie, Musée de Lille.
• Vue de Bagdad, Musée de Marseille.
• Entrée of caveaux de Venise, Musée de la Roche- sur -Yon.
• Vue d' Athènes, Musée de Rouen.
• Entrée de l' armée française à Alger le 5 juillet 1830, Musée de Versailles.
• " Palais du Bey Constantine " Algeria in 1837, the Musée Historique de Versailles.
• Ispahan, Meidan -i - Shah, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
• Ispahan - Cour intérieure de la grande Mosquée, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Swell

Translation from English