Léon Belly

Leon Auguste Adolphe Belly ( born April 18, 1827 in Saint- Omer, † March 24, 1877 in Paris) was a French painter.

Life

Léon Belly was born in 1827 as son of a Artilleroffiziers. He received his first drawing lessons from his mother. He then studied under François - Édouard Picot and Constant Troyon in Paris. In 1849 he visited Barbizon, where he was influenced by Théodore Rousseau.

1850/51 he made ​​his journey to the Orient to Greece, Syria and Egypt as a draftsman of Caignart de Sauley who explored the topography and history of these countries. In 1853 he exhibited for the first time landscape paintings of Nablus and Beirut, as well as the coast of the Dead Sea in the Paris Salon. 1855/56 he visited Egypt, where he drove the Nile in company of another painter, Édouard Imer up. Paintings from this trip he also exhibited at the Salon in 1861 and won a medal first class. In 1862 he exhibited at the World's Fair and was inducted into the Legion of Honor.

Known primarily for its oriental paintings, he also painted portraits and landscapes of Normandy and the Loire Valley.

Works (selection)

• ' Pilgrims on their way to Mecca, 1861, Musée d' Orsay, Paris
• Haymaking in Normandy, 1867, Musée d' Orsay, Paris
• The ford of Montboulan in Sologne, 1877, Musée d' Orsay, Paris
• The citadel of Mokatan in Cairo, about 1856, Musée Bartholdi, Colmar
• The sirens, 1867, Musée de l' hôtel Sandelin, Saint- Omer
• Black slave, 1858, Musée de l' hôtel Sandelin, Saint- Omer
• View of the Nile, o.J., Musée de l' hôtel Sandelin, Saint- Omer