Pierre-Jacques Volaire
Pierre-Jacques Volaire also called Jacques-Antoine Volaire or Le chevalier Volaire (born April 30, 1729 in Toulon , France , † 1799 in Naples , Italy ) was a French landscape painter .
Life
Volaire came from a well-known family of painters from Toulon. His grandfather was a painter in the Arsenal , his father the official painter of the city. The career of the knight Volaire began in 1754 as an employee of Claude Joseph Vernet , who was commissioned by Louis XV. painted the ports of France . Volaire traveled with Vernet until 1762 and from him he learned precise work and the correct use of moonlight or artificial light.
In 1762 Volaire went to Rome and became a member of the Accademia di San Luca , the Guild of St. Luke . In Rome he painted seascapes and landscapes. Since the competition in Rome was too great, Volaire turned to Naples in 1767 , where he lived until the end of his life.
The eruption of Vesuvius took place in 1771. Volaire very quickly became the most famous artist who captured the eruptions of the volcano in paintings and drawings . His representations were made from different angles and in a wide variety of formats. Since the activity of Vesuvius attracted travelers from all over Europe on their Grand Tour , Volaire's representations were very popular and so can be found all over the world today. However, he only exhibited three times in Paris. An attempt to send one of the Vesuvius pictures to King Louis XVI. to sell failed. Today, Volaire is regarded as a forerunner of the landscape painting of the Romantics , but in his time his pictures of natural disasters were still not valued enough.
Works
- The waterfall , 1768; Musée d'art de Toulon , Toulon
- View of Gaiola (island near Naples) , c. 1770; J. Paul Getty Museum , Los Angeles , USA
- Eruption of Vesuvius , around 1771; Musee des Beaux-Arts de Nantes , Nantes , France
- The eruption of Vesuvius , 1771; Musee des beaux-arts de Brest , Brest , France
- Shipwreck , ca.1774; Hermitage (Saint Petersburg) , Saint Petersburg , Russia
- Eruption of Vesuvius , 1774; Compton Verney Manor , Warwickshire , England
- The eruption of Vesuvius , 1777; North Carolina Museum of Art , Charlotte , North Carolina , USA
- Eruption of Vesuvius , 1785; Musée d'Art de Toulon, Toulon.
- The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco own a number of his sketches and drawings.
Web links
- Literature by and about Pierre-Jacques Volaire in the catalog of the German National Library
- www.getty.edu
- www.ncmoa.org
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Volaire, Pierre-Jacques |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Volaire, Jacques-Antoine; Le chevalier Volaire (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French landscape painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 30, 1729 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Toulon , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1799 |
| Place of death | Naples , Italy |