Henri Jean-Baptiste Victoire Fradelle
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Henri Jean-Baptiste Victoire Fradelle (1778–1865) was a Franco-English Victorian painter and portraitist, specializing in literary, historical, and religious subjects. For more than a hundred years, he was confused with his son, Henry Joseph Fradelle (1805–1872), who was trained as an artist but had several professions, including infirmary supervisor. It was only in the first decade of the 21st century that this mistake was identified and that biographies, lists, and auction houses gave Fradelle his rightful name.


Life

Fradelle was born in
Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
on 15 June 1778. His father was Joseph Guillaume Fradelle, a musician, and his mother was Adelaide Geneviève Valla, both from Paris. Fradelle studied under
Joseph-Benǫt Suv̩e Joseph-Benǫt Suv̩e (3 January 1743 Р9 February 1807) was a Flemish painter strongly influenced by French neo-classicism. Biography Suv̩e was born in Bruges. Initially a pupil of Matthias de Visch, he came to France aged 19 and bec ...
at the
École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...
in Paris. He left for Italy in 1808 and lived there until 1816. He then moved to London, which became his home, apart from a few years spent in Paris between 1830 and 1837. Over a period of about 30 years in England, Fradelle exhibited 36 pictures at the
British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...
, including ''The Cloister of the Carthusians at Rome Built by Michael Angelo''; ''The Porch of St. Ambrose at Milan''; ''Chatelar Playing the Lute to Mary Queen of Scots''; ''Belinda at Her Toilette''; ''The Earl of Leicester's Visit to Amy Robsart at Cumnor Place''; ''Ivanhoe, Queen Elizabeth and Lady Paget''; ''Origin of Painting''; ''Souvenirs d'Italie—Il Sospiro, an Italian Dance''; and ''Othello and Desdemona''. Fradelle also exhibited 11 works at the
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...
, including ''Milton Dictating Paradise Lost to His Daughter'', ''The Death of Adelaide'', ''Othello Relating the Story of His Life to Brabantio and Desdemona'', and ''Olivia and Viola''. In addition, he presented works at the
Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...
, the Old Water-Colour Society, and the Paris Salon, where he won a medal in 1834. Fradelle also painted and exhibited portraits, such as those of Mrs. Jeffery, Mr. Thomas H. Johnston, and Captain Basset, R.A., as well as miniature portraits like ''Miss Stephens as Susanna'' in ''
Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...
''. Fradelle died at 36 Weymouth Street, Portland Place, London, on 14 March 1865 and is buried at
Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...
. He was 86.


Works

Fradelle's works were bought by such notables as Lord Holland (
Holland House Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean country house in Kensington, London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
), the Earl of Egremont (
Petworth House Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Sa ...
), Lord Northwick, Wynn Ellis, J. Marshall of Leeds, and the Duke of Leuchtenberg of Munich. ''The Earl of Leicester's Visit to Amy Robsart at Cumnor Place'' is exhibited at Petworth House (the preparatory drawing for the latter is 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 ...
, London), and Fradelle's ''Othello Relating the Story of His Life to Brabantio and Desdemona'' is now part of the
Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
Collection in Stratford upon Avon. Drawings by Fradelle can be found at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, France. Many of Fradelle's works were engraved by artists such as Charles Turner (for example, ''The Earl of Leicester's Visit to Amy Robsart at Cumnor Place''), William Say (''Queen Elizabeth and Lady Paget'' and ''Belinda at Her Toilette'', as well as ''The Interview Between Lady Jane Grey and Dr. Roger Ascham''), R. Smart (''Princess Elizabeth at Woodstock''), J. Jazet (''Chatelar Playing the Lute to Mary Queen of Scots''), V. Rogers and A. Duncan (both of whom engraved ''Mary Queen of Scots and Her Secretary Chatelar''), and U. Denis (''Belinda at Her Toilette''). Some of the engravings can be found at the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
and the
Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...
in London and the
Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
in Paris. Manuscript letters by Fradelle to Baron Darnay, Mr and Mrs Ogle, and Mrs Herving are at the
Princeton University Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...
and at the
Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".
in Los Angeles. In recent years, paintings by Fradelle have been sold by Lawsons (Sydney), Bonhams (London), Ritchies (Toronto), Christies (London) and Bart Wouters Kunsthandel (Brasschaat, Belgium), among others. The paintings concerned are ''Queen Elizabeth and Lady Paget''; ''Interior Scene Depicting a Shakespearian Man Reciting Poetry to a Lady''; ''Origin of Painting''; ''Milton Dictating Paradise Lost to His Daughter''; ''A Dance in La Campagna''; ''Portrait of a Lady in a Blue Dress Playing the Harp, a Landscape Beyond''; and ''Scene from Othello''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fradelle, Henri Jean-Baptiste Victoire
1778 births 1865 deaths 18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery French expatriates in the United Kingdom 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists