ART 4 2-DAY
24 September
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DEATH:
1822 MICHALLON |
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Died on 24 September 1822: Achille
Etna Michallon, French painter born on 22 October
1796. Achille Michallon, the son of the sculptor Claude Michallon [1751-1799], who had won the prix de Rome in 1785, grew up in the Louvre where his parents had an apartment adjacent to his father's studio. At the age of six, while the Louvre was being renovated, they moved to artist's lodgings in the Sorbonne. Already exhibiting a precocious talent, Michallon first entered the studio of Jacques-Louis David [1748-1825] , where he studied the art of drawing the human form, before joining that of Valenciennes [1750-1819, specialized in landscapes]. Under the latter's tutelage he developed his interest in landscapes and took instruction from two of Valenciennes' followers, Dunouy and Bertin [1797-1871]. In 1812, at the age of fifteen Michallon exhibited for the first time at the Salon, receiving a second prize gold medal an astonishing achievement that excited much comment at the time. With such critical attention at an early age it is hardly surprising that Michallon attracted the patronage of the enormously wealthy Prince Yussoupoff (who returned to Russia in 1814), then of the Duchess of Berry, daughter-in-law of the future King Charles X, as well as the Count de L'Espine, the finance master of Louis XVIII. In 1817 he exhibited two major works at the Salon, Roman Shepherds contemplating the Ruins of a Tomb and A Landscape with Democritus and the Alberitons, for which he received the newly founded prix de Rome for historical landscape (paysage historique), founded to honor his former teacher Valenciennes. It was hoped that the institution of this prize would confer on landscape painting a similar prestige to that it had long bestowed on history subjects. Michallon re-energized the art of landscape painting, avoiding the repetitiveness of Dunouy, Bidauld and Bertin, and soon established his own circle of admiring artists, of whom the most eminent was the young Camille Corot [1796-1875]. Michallon introduced into this genre a hint of the romanticism that was to dominate the succeeding two decades. His larger, most ambitious landscapes manifested the sense of drama and grandeur found in the work of Nicolas Poussin [1594-1665] , which was to become even more apparent in his works produced in Rome between 1817 and 1821. Michallon died before his talent was fully realized at the age of twenty-six, leaving only a modest output of finished works and a number of brilliant sketches, small studies and drawings. The Fallen Branch, Fontainebleau (1816, 41x52cm; 787x1000pix, 117kb — ZOOM to 1574x2000pix, 439kb) — Le Bac de Neuilly-sur-Seine (lithograph 32x27cm) — Mazzocchi, Brigand de l'État Romain (lithograph 37x23cm) |