François-Léon Benouville (

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

30 March 1821 – 16 February 1859

) was a French painter noted for his Neoclassical religious compositions and for painting Orientalist subjects.

Life and career

Léon Benouville first studied with his elder brother, Jean-Achille Benouville (1815–1891), in the studio of François-Edouard Picot before he transferred to

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 centur ...

in 1837. Like his brother he received 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 ...

in 1845. Both he and his brother travelled to Rome. In Rome, as a Prix de Rome pensionary at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

. He remained there for a year, but his brother stayed on for two more years. His works produced in Rome are influenced by early Christianity and often show representations of antiquity.

Work and style

Benouville was best known for his portraits, mythological and religious compositions in the Neoclassical and Orientalist style. He worked in oils, ink and chalk.

Awards, prizes and honours

In 1845, Benouville, together with contemporary

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. According to ''Diccionario Enciclopedi ...

, was the recipient of the Prix des Beaux Arts for his painting, ''Jesus at the Pretorium.''GLUECKAPRIL, G., RT REVIEW"After the Fad: A Salon Favorite Now Forgotten," eview of ''Training an Artist: Alexandre Cabanel and the Academic Process in 19th-Century France'' Dahesh Museum, ''New York Times, 3 April-13 June 1998 3 April 1998, Online: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/03/arts/art-review-after-the-fad-a-salon-favorite-now-forgotten.html?mcubz=3]

Select list of paintings

* ''Portrait of Leconte de Floris'' 1840 * ''Melancholy'' c. 1843 * ''Esther'' 1844 * ''The Mockery of Christ'' 1845 * ''The Wrath of Achilles'' 1847 * ''Christian Martyrs enter the Amphitheatre,'' c.1855

Gallery

File:Bénouville, Samuel sacrant David.jpg, ''Samuel anoints David'', 1842 File:Léon Bénouville Cincinnatus.jpg, ''Cincinnatus Receives a Deputation from the Senate'', 1844 File:Bénouville Jésus dans le prétoire.JPG, ''Jésus at the Pretorium'', 1843, Musée d'Orsay,

File:Martyrs Chretiens entrant a l amphitheatre-Leon Benouville-IMG 8296.JPG, ''Christian Martyrs enter the Amphitheatre'',
c. 1855, Musée d'Orsay, Paris File:Paul Baudry by Benouville.jpg, ''Portrait of Paul Baudry'' (French painter), c. 1855

References

External links

François-Léon Benouville on ArtcyclopediaHudson River school visions: the landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Benouville (see index) Academic art French male painters Orientalism Orientalist painters 19th-century French painters 1821 births 1859 deaths {{France-painter-19thC-stub