Louis Rémy Mignot (February 3, 1831 – September 22, 1870) was an American painter of French Catholic descent. Associated with the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. Early on, the paintings typically depicted the Hudson River Valley and the sur ...

of landscape artists, his southern US heritage and the influence of his time spent in Europe gave him a distinct style within that group, in painting vegetation and atmospheric effects. Mignot's parents came to the US from France after the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

in 1815. Mignot pursued his interest in art in Europe beginning in 1848, and spent much of his life outside the US. Starting in 1850 he worked for four years in

Andreas Schelfhout Andreas Schelfhout (1787–1870) was a Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer, known for his landscape paintings. Schelfhout belongs to the Romantic movement. His Dutch winter scenes and frozen canals with skaters were already famous during hi ...

's studio in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, Netherlands, then travelled in Europe. Returning to New York City, he soon travelled with artist

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for paintin ...

to Ecuador in 1857, gathering material for his paintings of the tropics, the subject of a large portion of his subsequent work. In 1858 he had a studio at the

Tenth Street Studio Building The Tenth Street Studio Building, constructed in New York City in 1857, was the first modern facility designed solely to serve the needs of artists. It became the center of the New York art world for the remainder of the 19th century. Situated a ...

in New York City. The next year the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, where he had first exhibited in 1853, elected him as an associate, and in 1860 he became an academician. He collaborated with painters

Eastman Johnson Jonathan Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906) was an American painter and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance. He was best known for his genre paintings, paintings of ...

and John W. Ehninger, who provided figures for his landscapes, and Thomas Rossiter, whose history paintings of

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

benefitted from Mignot's landscapes. With the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he raised money with a sale of his paintings, then sailed to England in June 1862, where he lived in London. His exhibitions at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

between 1863 and 1871 were warmly received. His work was shown at the 1870 Paris Salon. He died in England of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

in 1870, shortly after fleeing France due to the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

. In 1996, the

North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that ...

held an exhibition of Mignot's work, the result of five years of research by John W. Coffey, a curator at the museum, which led to the discovery of dozens of Mignot's paintings. He co-authored an exhibition catalogue with Katherine E. Manthorne, and the exhibition, "Louis Remy Mignot: A Southern Painter Abroad", toured to the National Academy of Design in 1997. This led to a reassessment of Mignot's work, with one academic specializing in American painting of the era rating him as highly as Church in the pantheon of nineteenth-century American artists.

Gallery

File:Louis Rémy Mignot Hunters in a Winter Landscape.jpg, ''Hunters in a Winter Landscape'' (1856) File:Louis Rémy Mignot Marsh in Ecuador.jpg, ''Moonlight over a Marsh in Ecuador'' (1858) File:Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon, 1784 by Rossiter and Mignot, 1859.jpg, ''Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon, 1784 (The Home of Washington after the War)'' (1859),

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

File:Sunset, Winter by Louis Rémy Mignot, 1862, High Museum of Art.jpg, ''Sunset, Winter'' (1862),

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

File:Louis Rémy Mignot - Niagara - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Niagara'' (1866),

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

File:Sunset on Lake George by Louis Rémy Mignot.jpg, ''Sunset on Lake George'' (1860), Private Collection

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mignot, Louis Remy 1831 births 1870 deaths American male painters 19th-century American painters American landscape painters Artists from Charleston, South Carolina American people of French descent Deaths from smallpox in England 19th-century American male artists