Léon Cogniet

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Léon Cogniet, self-portrait around 1818

Léon Cogniet (born August 29, 1794 in Paris , † November 20, 1880 there ) was a French painter of neoclassicism and romanticism .

Life

In May 1812, Cogniet came to the École des Beaux-Arts in his hometown , where he was a student of, among others, Pierre Narcisse Guérin . With the support of his teachers, he was able to make his debut with a picture at an exhibition at the Académie française in 1814 . In 1815 his painting Briseïs is brought back to Achilles was awarded the " Prix ​​de Rome (2nd class)", and in 1817 he received the "Prix de Rome (1st class)" for his painting Liberation of Helena by Castor and Pollux . Associated with this award was a generous travel grant that enabled Cogniet to undertake a study tour of Italy and live in Rome for five years . He set out in the summer of 1817, but was able to take part in the large exhibition of the Paris Salon with a smaller work (later engraved by François Nicolas Delaistre ) and was also successful here.

Cogniets Briseïs is brought back to Achilles , 1815

During his studies at the art academy , Cogniet made the acquaintance of Jean Alaux , Eugène Delacroix , Théodore Géricault , Ary and Henry Scheffer .

In Rome, Cogniet lived in the Villa Medici until he returned to France in the spring of 1822. Immediately after his return in 1824 he presented his works Marius on the ruins of Carthage and The Bethlehemitic Child Murder at an exhibition . He had great success with both works; the child murder was soon spread as an engraving by Williams Reynolds-Stephens and Paul Girard .

In 1831 Cogniet had another great success with his painting The Rape of Rebekah by the Templar , which he had created a year earlier, inspired by reading Ivanhoe by Walter Scott .

Cogniet's grave in the Pere Lachaise cemetery

In 1843 he achieved a sensational success with his Tintoretto , painting his dead daughter (later engraved by Achille Louis Martinet ). But the paintings Battle of Mount Tabor on April 16, 1799 and Battle of Heliopolis on May 2, 1800 , which he had designed together with Paul Girard and Félix Philippoteaux , won over audiences and official art critics.

In 1855 Cogniet took part in the Paris Salon for the last time with his portrait of Vicomtesse de Noailles and then withdrew almost completely into private life. In the following years he hardly created any pictures worth mentioning, and at exhibitions - if at all - mostly older pictures were to be seen, for example at the world exhibition in Paris in 1855 his still well-known picture Tintoretto, painting his dead daughter .

In 1863, Cogniet also gave up teaching at the École des Beaux-Arts and retired into private life. In the last few years he had hardly any students; He also gave up his private studio during these years. On November 20, 1880, he died almost forgotten at the age of 94.

Cogniet had found its own distinctive style early on. This influenced a large number of students and thus set the style for the end of the 19th century. Classicist history painting still dominated his early works ; in his later oeuvre he turned more to portraiture . His ecclesiastical subjects and his lithographs are less known today .

In addition to a few other artists, the painter Léon Bonnat Cogniet also portrayed .

Works (selection)

Cogniet's portrait by Jean-François Champollion
  • The Bethlehemite child murder
  • Departure of the Paris National Guard in 1792 (1836, Historical Museum in Versailles)
  • Napoléon and the learned archaeologists in Egypt (ceiling painting in the Egyptian Museum)
  • Tintoretto, painting his dead daughter (1843)
  • Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin (portrait)
  • King Louis Philippe d'Orleans as Lieutenant General (portrait)
  • Achille Etna Michallon (1818/19, portrait)
  • Jean-François Champollion (1831, portrait)
  • Marius on the ruins of Carthage
  • Rape of Rebekah by the Templars (1830)
  • Battle of Mount Tabor on April 16, 1799
  • Battle of Heliopolis on May 20, 1800
  • Viscountess de Noailles (1855, portrait)

Honors

Student of Léon Cogniet

In addition to his numerous students, his sister Marie Amélie (1798–1869) and Catherine Caroline Thévenin (1813–1892), his future wife, should not be forgotten, whom he not only taught, but also encouraged to the greatest extent possible.

Léon Cogniet, around 1865

literature

Web links

Commons : Léon Cogniet  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Cogniet, Léon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cogniet, Leon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH November 20, 1880
Place of death Paris