Guillaume Guillon-Lethière (; 10 January 1760 – 22 April 1832) was a French neoclassical

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 ...

Life

Born free in

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

in 1760 to a French colonial official named Pierre Guillon and a "

mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...

" mother, Lethière has been often written about in the context of French colonial history and 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 ...

. At 14 years old, his father took him from Guadeloupe to

Metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

. By the age of 17, Guillon-Lethièrehe had become the student of Gabriel François Doyen at the

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...

. Lethière won second prize in the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

of 1784 for his painting ''Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ''. He entered again two years later, and while he did not win, he succeeded in receiving support to travel to Rome where he further developed his neoclassical style. Lethière remained in Rome for several years In 1791 he returned to Paris to open a painting studio in direct competition with

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

.Simon Lee, "Lethière ethiers; Letiers Guillaume uillon, Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 4-02-2007 http://www.groveart.com/ In 1818 Lethière was finally elected and also awarded the

Légion d’honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

. A year later he became a professor at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. Among his students were

Isidore Pils Isidore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils (1815–1875) was a French academic painter of religious and military subjects. Biography Pils was born in Paris as the son of a soldier François Pils. At the age of twelve, he studied with Guillaume Guillon-Le ...

and Polish Nitka, Maria (2013). "Rosyjscy i polscy malarze w Rzymie lat 20. XIX wieku – wspólne narodziny malarstwa akademickiego (Russian and Polish painters in Rome in the 1820s and at the beginning of the 1830s – the common birth of the XIX century academic art)". Sztuka Europy Wschodniej (Art of Eastern Europe) (in Polish). Polish Institute of World Art Studies. 1: 309, 311.-Lithuanian painter Kanuty Rusiecki. Lethière was foster father to Mélanie d'Hervilly, later Hahnemann.

Gallery

Guillaume Guillon Lethière-The Death of Cato of Utica, 1795.jpg, ''The Death of

Cato of Utica Marcus Porcius Cato "Uticensis" ("of Utica"; ; 95 BC – April 46 BC), also known as Cato the Younger ( la, Cato Minor), was an influential conservative Roman senator during the late Republic. His conservative principles were focused on the pr ...

'' (1795)

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

File:Guillaume Guillon-Lethiere, Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos.jpg, ''

Philoctetes Philoctetes ( grc, Φιλοκτήτης ''Philoktētēs''; English pronunciation: , stress (linguistics), stressed on the third syllable, ''-tet-''), or Philocthetes, according to Greek mythology, was the son of Poeas, king of Meliboea (Magnes ...

on the Island of

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

'', (1798)

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 ...

Guillaume Guillon Lethière - The Sleep of Venus.jpg, ''The Sleep of Venus'' (1802) Le Serment des Ancêtres, 1823.jpg, '' The Oath of the Ancestors'' (1822)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillon-Lethiere, Guillaume French neoclassical painters 1760 births 1832 deaths Prix de Rome for painting Academic staff of the École des Beaux-Arts 18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters French people of Guadeloupean descent 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists

Life

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links