Charles Paul Landon (12 October 17605 March 1826) was a French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and popular writer on art and artists.

Life and work

Landon was born in

Nonant Nonant () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in northwestern France. Population See also *Commu ...

and entered the studio of

Jean-Baptiste Regnault Jean-Baptiste Regnault (9 October 1754 – 12 November 1829) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to I ...

, where he made a lifelong friendship with

Robert Lefèvre Robert Jacques François Faust Lefèvre (, 24 September 1755, in Bayeux – 3 October 1830, in Paris) was a French painter of portraits, history paintings and religious paintings. He was heavily influenced by Jacques-Louis David and his style i ...

. He and won the first prize of the Academy in 1792, for study at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in ...

, where he stayed for five years. After his return from Italy, in the disturbed patronage conditions of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, he seems to have abandoned painting and turned to writing, although he began to exhibit in 1795, and continued to do so at various intervals up to 1814. He exhibited three pictures at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

: the ''Mother's Lesson'', the ''Bath of Paul and Virginia'' and ''Daedalus and Icarus''. A portrait from this period was purchased in 2003 for the

Museum of Grenoble The Museum of Grenoble (french: Musée de Grenoble) is a municipal museum of Fine Arts and antiquities in the city of Grenoble in the Isère region of France. Located on the left bank of the Isère River, place Lavalette, it is known both for it ...

. His ''Leda'' won an award of merit in 1801, and is in the

château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau (; ) or Château de Fontainebleau, located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence ...

(deposited by the

in 1932). His ''Mother's Lesson'' was the subject of a popular engraving. ''Paul and Virginia Bathing'' (an illustration of

Bernardin de Saint-Pierre Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (also called Bernardin de St. Pierre) (19 January 1737, in Le Havre – 21 January 1814, in Éragny, Val-d'Oise) was a French writer and botanist. He is best known for his 1788 novel '' Paul et Virginie'', ...

's popular novel, also engraved), his ''Sleep of Achilles'' and ''Daedalus and Icarus'' (1799, ''illustrated right'') are all at the Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle, Alençon. It is chiefly for his writing on the arts that he made a reputation, however. He published nearly one hundred volumes during his lifetime. Landon was among the collaborators of the influential ''Journal des arts, des sciences et de la littérature''. He was also a part-owner of the ''Gazette de France'', where the extended accounts of annual

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

s were published. He was a paintings conservator at the

, a corresponding member of the '' Institut'' and painter to Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry, whose widow's paintings gallery he catalogued. His major, on-going work comprised the ''Annales du musée et de l'école moderne des beaux-arts'', published between 1808 and 1835 and running to 33 volumes. It forms a comprehensive resource on European art and artists prior to the 19th century. However it is far from perfect. The work has been criticised for containing many careless biographical mistakes and lacking critical accuracy. An example of his popular works that has been recently reprinted was ''Numismatique du voyage du jeune

Anacharsis Anacharsis (; grc, Ἀνάχαρσις) was a Scythian philosopher; he travelled from his homeland on the northern shores of the Black Sea, to Ancient Athens, in the early 6th century BC, and made a great impression as a forthright and outspok ...

, ou Médailles des beaux temps de la Grèce'' which was accompanied by an essay on connoisseurship of medals by Théophile Marion Dumersan and dedicated to

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

, 1823. Anacharsis had recently been established in the popular imagination in a

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

, while coins were among the few antiquities that the middle class might aspire to own. Landon also published *''Vie et œuvres des peintres les plus célèbres de toutes les écoles...'' ("Lives of Celebrated Painters"), in 22 volumes *''An Historical Description of Paris'', 2 volumes * ''Description of London'', with 42 plates He also produced descriptions of the

Palais du Luxembourg The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the ...

and its contents, of the Giustiniani collection. Landon died at Paris in 1826.

Gallery

File:Charles Paul Landon - Eléazar.jpg, ''Eléazar'' (1792) File:Charles-Paul Landon - Portrait de femme.jpg, ''Portrait de femme'' (1793) File:Hagar Giving Ishmael Water From the Miraculous Well in the Desert Charles Paul Landon.jpg, ''Hagar Giving Ishmael Water From the Miraculous Well in the Desert'' File:Charles Paul Landon - Tête de femme couronnée de laurier.jpg, ''Tête de femme couronnée de laurier'' File:Count Bourcet family by Landon.jpg, ''Le Comte Pierre-Jean de Bourcet et sa famille'' (1791) File:Vengeance populaire après la prise de la Bastille-Landon-IMG 2365.JPG, ''Vengeance populaire après la prise de la Bastille'' (circa 1793 - 1794)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landon, Charles Paul 1760 births 1826 deaths 18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters Prix de Rome for painting 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists