Pierre Subleyras (; November 25, 1699 – May 28, 1749) was a French
painter, active during the late-
Baroque and early-
Neoclassic period, mainly in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.
Life
Subleyras was born in
Saint-Gilles-du-Gard,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
He left France in 1728, having carried off the
French Academy's grand prix, which provided scholarship for study in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
In Rome, he painted for the Elector of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, Frederick Christian, a "Christ's Visit to the House of Simon the Pharisee", (later engraved by Subleyras himself), this work procured his admission into the famed Roman artists guild,
Accademia di San Luca
The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fi ...
.
Cardinal
Valenti Gonzaga next obtained for him the order for ''Saint Basil &
Emperor Valens
Valens ( grc-gre, Ουάλης, Ouálēs; 328 – 9 August 378) was Roman emperor from 364 to 378. Following a largely unremarkable military career, he was named co-emperor by his elder brother Valentinian I, who gave him the eastern half of ...
'' (also known as the ''Mass of St. Basil'', which was executed in
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
for St Peter's.
Another masterpiece is his painting of ''St
Camillo De Lellis
Camillo De Lellis (born 11 June 1976) is an Italian mathematician who is active in the fields of calculus of variations, hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, geometric measure theory and fluid dynamics. He is a permanent faculty member i ...
coming to the rescue of the diseased at the hospital of the Holy Spirit''.
He was a remarkably incisive portraitist, as evident from the portrait of Pope
Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope ...
or of the obese Cardinal
Valenti Gonzaga. The pope himself commanded two great paintings, the "Marriage of St Catherine" and the "Ecstasy of St Camilla", which he placed in his own private apartments. Another portrait was of the cleric and artist
Giovanni Felice Ramelli, which Ramelli then replicated in miniature.
Subleyras shows greater individuality in his curious genre pictures, which he produced in considerable number (Louvre).
In his illustrations of
La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his '' Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Eu ...
and
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...
his true relation to the modern era comes out; and his drawings from nature are often admirable (see one of a man draped in a heavy cloak in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
).
Exhausted by overwork, Subleyras tried a change to Naples, but returned to Rome at the end of a few months to die. His wife, the celebrated miniature painter,
Maria Felice Tibaldi, was sister to
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...
, the wife of
Trémolières.
Partial catalogue and gallery
Paintings at the Louvre
* Don Cesare Benvenuti
* L'Absolution de Théodose
* Le Gaucon
* L'Ermite ou Frère Luce
* Les Oies du frère Philippe
* Portrait présumé de Jacques-Antoine de Lironcourt
* Saint Benoît ressuscite un enfant
* Saint Jean d'Avila
File:Benoit XIV.jpg, ''Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Be ...
''
File:Subleyras la courtisane amoureuse louvre.jpg, ''Courtesan in love''
File:Collection Motais de Narbonne - L'Annonciation en présence d'ammantate c.1726 - Pierre Subleyras.jpg, ''The Annunciation in the Presence of Ammantate'' (1726)
File:Pierre Subleyras - The Studio of the Painter - WGA21963.jpg, ''The Artist's Studio''
File:Justice by Pierre Subleyras.jpg, ''Justice''
File:Pierre Subleyras - Crucifixion of S. Peter.jpg, ''Crucifixion of Saint Peter
) (Simeon, Simon)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire
, death_date = Between AD 64–68
, death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
, parents = John (or Jonah; Jona)
, occupat ...
''
File:Pierre Subleyras - Mass of St Basil - WGA21955.jpg, ''Mass of Saint Basil
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Cae ...
'' (1743)
References
;Attribution
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subleyras, Pierre
1699 births
1749 deaths
18th-century French painters
French male painters
French neoclassical painters
Painters from Rome
Catholic painters
18th-century French male artists