Antoine-Jean Gros

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Statue of Antoine-Jean Gros at the Paris City Hall

Antoine-Jean Gros (born March 16, 1771 in Paris , † June 26, 1835 at Meudon ) was a French painter of classicism . Gros is known for its historical paintings with which he the rise of Napoleon I was holding.

life and work

Antoine-Jean Gros' father Jean Antoine Gros (1732–1786) was a well-known miniature painter and gave his son lessons. From 1785 Gros learned from Jacques-Louis David , from 1787 he attended the École de L'Académie de Peinture . Forced to earn money by the death of his father and the French Revolution , he first painted portraits and mythological scenes. In 1793 he fled to Italy after he was suspected of royalist activities and lived in Genoa and Florence until 1794 , two years exclusively in Genoa.

In 1796 Gros first met Napoleon Bonaparte in Milan , who commissioned him to paint Napoleon on the Arcole Bridge , which was created in two versions in 1796 and 1797. In 1799 Gros returned to France via Antibes and Marseille and from then on painted realistic battle pictures that glorified Napoleon's war acts, as well as portraits. From 1811 to 1824 he painted the dome of the Paris Pantheon ; from 1827 to 1833 he created a ceiling painting for the Louvre .

With his work Napoléon on the battlefield of Preussisch-Eylau (1808, Louvre) he won a competition organized by DV Dermont. The painting is now regarded as Gros' main work. Another important work by the painter is the painting Louis XVIII commissioned by the king and now in the Musée National de Versailles . bids farewell to his faithful (1817). It was Gros' last major historical painting with an epic character.

As the successor to his teacher David, Gros is considered to be the main representative of the classical school, fought against by the Romantics . After depression, he died in 1835 by suicide in a tributary of the Seine . He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

literature

  • Rudolf Zeitler: Propylaea Art History - The Art of the 19th Century. Propylaea, Berlin 1966.

Web links

Commons : Antoine-Jean Gros  - Collection of images, videos and audio files