Neoclassicism

John Reinhard Weguelin paints in 1888 a funeral scene from Greek mythology in The Gardens of Adonis. We see the aftermath of the tragic death of Adonis, a man of such beauty that goddesses feuded over him. He was gored to death by a boar and died in the arms of Aphrodite. His blood mixed […]

French Neoclassical artist Antoine-Jean Gros paints General Baston de Lariboisière and His Son Ferdinand in 1805, a year after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and the mood in France is generally a complex of remembrance and mourning. Here, Ferdinand is portrayed as a gallant and brave young officer of the Napoleonic army as he stands with

Here is an 1800 portrait of Christine Boyer by Antoine-Jean Gros, as a member of the then ascendant Bonaparte family. She was the wife of Lucien, Napoleon’s younger brother. She was to die later that year in childbirth. She is painted in somewhat of a dramatic, if not tragic, demeanor by the artist; her gaze

Gainsborough Dupont’s subject, Henry Fiennes Pelham Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, stands cross-legged with his right hand on his hip and an expression of stern authority in this Neoclassical work. He leans on a column’s pedestal on which are inscribed a crown and the initials of his status. Thus, the picture can be read as

In 1810 French artist Antoine-Jean Gros painted a portrait of General Claude Legrand who was a distinguished general of Napoleon. He was a veteran leader of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was to die of his wounds in 1815 at the River Berezina. In Gros’s portrait here the general is shown full-length out

Antoine-Jean Gros was commissioned by the boy’s father to paint this spirited piece Equestrian Portrait of Prince Boris Yusupov in 1809. Primarily known as an Academic painter of Napoleon, Gros never saw Russia and so paints an imaginary landscape here. The horse rears up energetically while the young prince manages the reins adeptly with his

Charlotte Corday is an 1860 Neoclassical painting by French artist Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry. It is located in the Grand Palais in Paris, France. Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry’s painting of Charlotte Corday can be seen as a riposte to Jacques-Louis David’s treatment of the same subject, the assassination of a wild and bloodthirsty leader of the French Revolution, Jean-Paul

Jacques-Louis David’s portrait of Anne-Marie-Louise Thélusson, Countess of Sorcy was painted in 1790 at the beginning of the French Revolution and David, a supporter of the revolution, paints his sitter in simple clothing wrapped in a cowl. This shows Madame Thélusson as a simple citizen despite her title, in a new world that was seeing

Melancholy is a painting of a female figure here slumped over in a depressive state by French painter Constance Marie Charpentier. Finished in 1801 at age 34, it is painted exquisitely and with classical decorum. The expressive melancholy in the face is true to life. The position of her figure in the picture also recalls

The Death of Cleopatra is a highly finished scene at the border between classical composition and naturalistic style by French painter Jean-André Rixens (1846-1925). It is located in the Museum of the Augustines in Toulouse, France. Analysis of Rixen’s Death of Cleopatra The composition painted early in his career in 1874 at age 28 is

French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres spent 20 years on and off painting Angelica saved by Ruggiero between 1819 and 1839. The story is based on the Italian epic poem Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto in 1516. Angelica saved by Ruggiero Analysis Here we see Ruggiero on a Hippogriff, a mythical creature half man half griffin saving

Napoleon Accepts the Surrender of Madrid, 4th December 1808 by French painter Antoine-Jean Gros shows the success of the French quashing the months-long Spanish revolt against Joseph Bonaparte’s rule, and the banishment of the British forces from the Iberian peninsula. Painted two years after the events took place and exhibited at the Salon of 1810

Here French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres paints Inès Moitessier, a woman of French high society. She turns to the viewer in a richly decorated room in a dark dress with a passive expression. This 1851 portrait is the first of two (the second being in the National Gallery in London) by Ingres of the wife of

French Neo-classical painter Antoine-Jean Gros‘ Napoleon at the Pyramids in 1798, painted 12 years after the event in 1810 shows a packed battle scene filled with action, as Napoleon gestures to the pyramids as if to confirm the longevity of his regime which was to last an additional four years. Gros painted a number of

Mars Being Disarmed by Venus is an 1824 French Neo-Classical painting by influential artist Jacques-Louis David. It is located in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. Analysis of David’s Mars Being Disarmed by Venus David’s final painting is indicative of his late departure from his early, more austere, and simple Neoclassical compositions.

1835’s Hercules and Diomedes is Antoine-Jean Gros‘ final painting and depicts the seventh labor of Hercules who is punishing in kind the cruelty of Diomedes, who fed many strangers to his horses. It is a return to the Neoclassical style of Gros’ teacher Jacques-Louis David with its restrained colors and ancient subject matter. Antoine-Jean Gros’s

This double portrait of The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte by Jacques-Louis David was painted in 1821, a number of years after the final deposition of Napoleon in 1815. The painting The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte is of the former Emperor’s two nieces, the daughters of the former King of Spain and Napoleon’s brother

The Battle of Nazareth by French Neoclassicism artist Antoine-Jean Gros shows the rout of Ottoman forces by the French army in April 1799. Painted just two years after the event in 1801, the choice of coloration gives us an impression of the heat of both the battle and the climate. Antoine-Jean Gros’ The Battle of

Jesus Among the Doctors is an 1862 religious painting by leading French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Analysis of Jesus Among the Doctors Here French baroque painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres depicts in his 1862 painting Jesus Among the Doctors a young Christ preaching to elders in the temple in a crowded and richly colored scene. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s