Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes
Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes (December 6, 1750 in Toulouse, † February 16, 1819 in Paris) was a French painter and high school teachers. He was one of the most important landscape painter of his time and had his artistic and theoretical work great influence on later artists. So de Valenciennes is considered the precursor of the mood Romantic painting and plein air painting of Impressionism.
Life
Youth
Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes was born on December 6, 1750 in Toulouse in Languedoc. His father Pierre Devalenciennes (1724-1754) was wig maker, his mother Marguerite Abel daughter of an upholsterer. As a teenager, he first began a musical education and learned to play the violin. 1770/1771 he studied then painting at the Royal Academy of Toulouse ( Royal Academy of Toulouse). During this time he traveled extensively through southern France, and in 1769 a first trip to Rome.
During this time, de Valenciennes was funded by the wealthy family Dubourg - particularly by the brothers Mathias (1746-1794) and Philippe Dubourg (1751-1822), who had significant state and church offices. He also benefited from the fact that his aunt Anne de Valenciennes with the valet of the Duke and statesman Étienne- François de Choiseul (1719-1785) was married, who also supported him.
Training
On the recommendation of the Duke Pierre- Henri de Valenciennes was in 1772 in Paris with Gabriel François Doyen continue studying the Member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture ( Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture ) was. There he also met with the French historical and landscape painter Hubert Robert (1733-1808) in contact, who influenced him greatly. 1778 had de Valenciennes in Paris a first public exhibition of his paintings.
From 1777 to 1785 he lived mainly thanks to the support of its patrons in Rome. He also traveled in 1779 for several months in Southern Italy Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, where he visited among other Naples, and Umbria in central Italy. During his stay Italy - de Valenciennes not only studied the ancient art, but also the Italian landscapes. Here he served his homemade outdoor sketches and oil studies as a basis to define its later paintings in the studio. In addition, he maintained a close relationship with the scholars of the Prix de Rome and the lecturers at the French Academy in Rome ( Académie de France à Rome ).
Academician
Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes 1785 and returned to Paris and in 1787 was unanimously elected a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture ( Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture ). The fabricated by him for inclusion in the Academy 's painting " Cicero discovers the grave of Archimedes " was his first work in the Salon de Paris ( Paris Salon ) was issued. Since then presented de Valenciennes there regularly his paintings, in 1805 he was even awarded a gold medal.
He also taught painting - and not just at the academy, but also at the Polytechnic ( École Polytechnique ) and at the Imperial School of Fine Arts ( École des beaux -arts impériale ) in Paris. His main themes in perspective and landscapes. Among his many students were later some famous painters, such as ...
- Jean -Victor Bertin (1767-1824),
- Louis -François Lejeune (1775-1848),
- Achille Etna Michallon (1796-1822) and
- Louis Etienne Watelet ( 1780-1866 ).
In addition to his practical work de Valenciennes employed theoretically intensively with the painting. So e he published in 1799 a textbook on landscape painting ( Éléments de perspective pratique à l' usage des artistes, suivis de Réflexions et conseils sur la peinture à un élève et particulièrement sur le genre du paysage ), which was considered a standard work for long.
1815 de Valenciennes was honored for his achievements as a painter and professor with the Knight's Cross of the French Legion of Honour. He died on February 16, 1819 at the age of 68 years in Paris, where he was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Significance and factory
Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes was one of the most important landscape painter of his time. The special feature of his work was that he numerous sketches and oil studies anfertigte as one of the first artists to prepare its (later embodied in the studio ) painting outdoors. Through its directly held impressions he achieved a hitherto unusual sensitivity to nature and landscapes.
The main theme of the works of de Valenciennes ' are idealized, historical landscapes, where ancient buildings and monuments can be seen. Frequently rests above it all on a sky showing a diverse clouds and light play and occupies a considerable part of the painting. People are, however, usually represented only very small in the paintings and dive only in isolated instances - they lose to a certain extent in an overwhelming scenery.
In his work, the gradual transformation of the understanding of nature in art reflects who later expressed in the mood Romantic painting and plein air painting of Impressionism, German Romanticism see for example J. G. v. Dillis.
More important, however, is its role as a pioneer of plein air painting. He made many of his landscape studies in the wild. With these works, a new conception of art can break train, which then culminates in the Barbizon school (especially in the works of Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet ). It is thus also a direct ancestor of Impressionist landscape painting (eg, Monet, Degas, Pissarro in France, Leibl and his circle in Germany, Gignous in Italy).
From research V. has long been seen as a successor of N. Poussin. Only through the donation of small -scale oil studies by Princess Louis de Croy 1930 at the Louvre, the importance of V. was slowly also recognized by science. Nevertheless, he still has not given its rightful place in the history of art. Properly considered must apply V. as "true (r ) discoverer of the held on the canvas immediate impression of nature" (p. Schultze ). This is reflected in his work a fundamental change in the understanding of nature, which acts up into this century.
But his work is waiting in large parts still closer exploration.
His above mentioned book has become a standard work of landscape painting in the 19th century in France for a whole generation of painters. In it he calls for the landscape painter must be an observer of nature ( not self-evident in his time ) and his on-site observations should hold in oil studies.
Another painting gallery
" Capriccio of Rome with the finish line of a marathon ", 1788
" Alexander at the grave of Cyrus the Great ", 1796
Sketch of Rocca di Papa
Sketch cloud studies in 1780
Views of the surroundings of Rome
Awards
Literature and sources used
- Simone Schultze: Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes and his school. Paysage historique and the change in the conception of nature in the early 19th century.
- Marcel Roethlisberger: In the Light of Claude Lorrain. Exhibition Catalogue, Munich, 1983, ISBN 3-7774-3500-7.
- Martina Peters: Italy travel and Italy view. Claude Joseph Vernet - the effect on the open-air practice the example of Francis Towne and Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes. Free Univ., Diss, Berlin, 2003.
- Exposure La Nature l' avait Créé Peintre. Pierre -Henri de Valenciennes 1750 - 1819th exhibition catalog, Toulouse 2003, ISBN 2-85056-593-8.