Charles de Moreau

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Charles de Moreau ( Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller , 1822)

Jean Charles Alexandre de Moreau (born December 8, 1758 in Paris , † November 3, 1840 in Leopoldstadt ) was a French architect and painter who worked primarily in Austria .

Life

The information in the literature about Moreau, especially about his early days in France , is contradictory and incorrect. This is based on the investigation by Richard H. Kastner, The Architect Karl (Charles) Moreau from 2014, which gives the sources and discussions.

Accordingly, Moreau was not born in Paris , as can often be read, but in Rimaucourt in the Haute-Marne department . He first studied architecture with Louis François Trouard and in 1785 received the architecture grand prize for the design of a round mausoleum, which enabled him to spend four years in Rome .

After his return, Moreau turned to painting and entered the studio of the history painter Jacques-Louis David , in whose school in the Louvre he also worked as a teacher. In 1792 he received a second prize for painting. In 1799 he was entrusted with the redesign of the Théâtre français in Paris.

Apparently there was a personal encounter with Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy in Paris , who persuaded Moreau to move to Austria. In 1803 Moreau came to Vienna with his wife Adelaide, née Chendret, and their children Julius and Noémie, where Esterházy gave him an apartment in the Red House on Alsergrund . As a princely Esterházy court architect, he was commissioned, among other things, with the generous redesign and expansion of the palace in Eisenstadt . As a result, Moreau was also active in architecture on other estates of Esterhazy in Hungary , as well as in Vienna for the high nobility.

In 1804, together with the painter Carl Hummel and the middle-class fish seller Franz Ebner, he acquired an area in Leopoldstadt on which he built the Dianabad . He also moved here and lived in the building with his family. The income from the bathroom was considerable, so that he could live off it.

In 1812 Moreau was elected an art member of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and, at Metternich's suggestion, became an art councilor. Metternich brokered several commissions for him during the Congress of Vienna . During this time he also became a Knight of the French Legion of Honor . With the construction of the Austrian National Bank building from 1819 to 1823, Moreau ended his work as an architect. In the last two decades of his life, Moreau turned back to painting. In 1824 he became a corresponding member of the Paris Academy . In 1834, 1835 and 1836 he exhibited history paintings at the Vienna Academy.

Moreau died of a stroke at the age of 82. He was buried in the Währing local cemetery.

In addition to the two children already mentioned, who were still born in France, Moreau had a daughter Maria and two sons, Nikolaus and Paul. His daughter Ludovika Noémie Mignone Moreau (1803–1827) and his son Nikolaus Moreau (1805–1834) were also visual artists.

Projected garden facade of Esterházy Palace (1812)
Palais Pálffy (1809-1813)
Esterházy Palace, Csákvár (1810–1814)
Sternberg Palace (1820–1821)

meaning

Charles de Moreau was primarily active as a visual artist as a genre and history painter. Its real meaning, however, lies in architecture. He was a representative of the French palace architecture of classicism , who brought this style to Austria as a mediator. Despite their representative design, his works are characterized by a rational rigor that was groundbreaking for the architecture of the Vormärz in Vienna.

Works

Fonts

  • Fragmens et ornemens d'architecture: dessinés a Rome, d'après l'antique. Paris: Vilquin, [1820]. ( SUDOC )

literature

Web links

Commons : Charles de Moreau  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Karl (?) Moreau" in the death register of the parish St. Josef, Vienna-Leopoldstadt.
personal data
SURNAME Moreau, Charles de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moreau, Karl von; Moreau, Jean Charles Alexandre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French-Austrian classical architect and painter
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 1840
Place of death Leopoldstadt