Étienne Parrocel known as Le Romain (

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, 8 January 1696 -

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 26 August or 12 January 1775 or 1776) was a French

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

working in Rome in the eighteenth century.

Biography

The son of and Jeanne Marie Périer, he belonged to a prolific dynasty of artists who generated fourteen painters in six generations. He was a pupil of his

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called th ...

brother Gabriel Imbert (1666-1749).Etienne Parrocel
/ref> His uncle

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, who, after a period of study in France, in 1717 c., accompanied him to Rome to deepen his knowledge of painting with cousins Pierre Ignace and Joseph François. Étienne stayed in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and for this reason he was called Le Romain. He became a member of the National Academy of San Luca in 1734. His first patron was

Pierre Guérin de Tencin Pierre-Paul Guérin de Tencin (22 August 1679 – 2 March 1758) was a French ecclesiastic and statesman, who was archbishop of Embrun and Lyon and cardinal. His sister was Claudine Guérin de Tencin. Biography He was the son of Antoine G ...

, bishop of Embrun, who in 1724 commissioned a painting representing the ceremony of his investiture, now lost. From that time on, Étienne began to receive regular and numerous commissions, as he was skilled in both

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

and

fresco painting Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting becomes ...

and became particularly well known for his works on religious themes, destined for churches in Rome and its surrounding area and churches in

southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

. His paintings with religious subjects include: ''Saint Gregory at the poor man's table'' (1729; Rome, San Gregorio a Ponte Quattro Capi), ''Nativity'' (1739, Rome, Basilica of Santa Maria in

Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin (). Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lion on a red background, the meaning of which i ...

), ''Trinity'' (1739, for the dome of

Santa Maria Maddalena The Santa Maria Maddalena is a Roman Catholic, Catholic church in Rome, Italy dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. It is the conventual church of the adjacent General Curia of the Clerks Regular, Ministers to the Sick (Camillians), the world headqu ...

in Rome), two paintings for the altars of

Carpentras Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal dialect, Provençal Occitan language, Occitan: ''Carpentràs'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the ...

Cathedral (1744; ''Saints Augustine and Bernard in situ'' and ''Saints Joseph and Dominic'' gone lost) and ''The Incredulity of Saint Thomas'' (1758;

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; ) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is south of Trevi, north of Terni, southeast of Perugia; southeast of Florence; and north of Rome. H ...

, Municipal Picture Gallery), the painting for the high altar of the church of Santa Maria in Monticelli and the one for the high altar of the church of San Luigi di Francia, representing the apotheosis of Joan of Valois, founder of the order of the Annunziata. Nicolaus Billy made an engraving from the latter painting. In addition to religious subjects, he also painted portraits such as that of Pierre Guérin de Tencin, engraved by Johann Georg Wille, and those of Cardinals Giovanni Battista Spinola,

Melchior de Polignac Melchior Cardinal de Polignac (11 October 1661 – 20 November 1742) was a French diplomat, Cardinal and Neo-Latin poet. Second son of Armand XVI, marquis de Polignac and Marquis Chalancon (1608–1692), Governor of Puy; and Jacqueline de Beauvo ...

, Pompeo Aldrovandi and Corsini. In 1746 he painted an allegorical fresco having as subjects literature and philology represented by

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

and Mercury for the library of Cardinal Neri Corsini in Palazzo Corsini in Rome. According to Pilkington and de Boni, Étienne was born around 1720 and was also an engraver: he made etchings from his own drawings, in particular a Bacchanalian and also ''The Triumph of Mordecai'' by De Troy and The ''Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne'' by Subleyras. Instead, according to Parrocel (pg.83) and the Grove Dictionary of Art, Étienne was born in 1696 and never made etchings.

Gallery

Parrocel-étienne Angelot-dans-les-nues.jpg, Parrocel-étienne-Jesus-Samaritaine.jpg, Jesus Samaritaine Etienne Parrocel - Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Philip Neri - 89.24 - Detroit Institute of Arts.jpg, Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Philip Parrocel-Etienne-Lellis.jpg, Parrocel-Etienne-St-Jean-Baptiste.jpg, Saint Jean Baptiste Etienne Parrocel-Déjanire.jpg, Déjanire Etienne Parrocel-Vierge à l'Enfant.jpg, Vierge à l'Enfant Santa Maria in Trastevere -Natività of Etienne Parrocel.jpg, Santa Maria in Trastevere -Natività of Etienne Parrocel Parrocel Adoration des Mages Amiens.jpg, Étienne Parrocel, L'Adoration des mages (1749), chapelle de l'Aurore de la cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens Man Pulling a Curtain Aside MET DR355.jpg, Man Pulling a Curtain Aside Seated Woman with a Child on her Lap (Study for a Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria) MET DP217834.jpg, Seated Woman with a Child on her Lap The Creation of Eve MET DP802867.jpg, The Creation of Eve Gideon Gathering His Army, Scene from the Book of Judges MET DP802869.jpg, Gideon Gathering His Army, Scene from the Book of Judges

List of Works

* The apotheosis of Saint Joan of Valois, founder of the order of the Annunziata, church of Saint Louis of France, Rome * Saint Gregory at the poor man's table, Rome Saint Gregory at Ponte Quattro Capi, 1729 * Portrait of

* Portrait of Cardinal Spinola * Portrait of Cardinal de Polignac * Portrait of Cardinal Aldrovandi * Portrait of Cardinal Corsini * Holy Family, Carpentras * The Virgin and Child Jesus, Comtadin-Duplessis Museum, Carpentras, 1733 * Nativity, Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome, 1739 * Trinity, for the dome of Santa Maria Maddalena in Rome, 1739 * Saints Augustine and Bernard, Cathedral of Carpentras, 1744 * Saints Joseph and Dominic (lost), Cathedral of Carpentras, 1744 * The incredulity of San Tommaso, Spoleto, Pinacoteca comunale, 1758 * Allegory of literature and philology represented by Apollo and Mercury, Corsini Palace, Rome, 1746 * Vergine Maria Assunta in Cielo, Pala dell'altar maggiore della Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, Filottrano * Pentecost, presbytery of the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Filottrano * Descent of the Holy Spirit on Mary and the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room, presbytery of the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Filottrano * The Virgin and Child Jesus and two Saints, 25 x 18 cm. * The Holy Family and Saint Anthony of Padua, 53 x 39 cm, oil on canvas * The Virgin and Child with St. Francis and St. Augustine, 35.5 x 22.5 cm * The Supper at Emmaus, 20.7 x 35.7 cm, black and white chalk on paper * ''Jesus and the Samaritan Woman'' * ''The Virgin and Child give the rosary to Saint Dominic'' * Study of five figures, black and white chalk, 54.2 x 40.4 cm, Paris, ENSBA (Ecole National Supérieuer de Beaux Arts) * Atlas holding a yoke, black and white chalk, 41.5 x 28 cm, Paris, ENSBA (Ecole National Supérieuer de Beaux Arts)

References

Bibliography

* Etienne Parrocel, ''Annales de La Peinture'', 2009 * Etienne Parrocel, Monographie des Parrocel: Essai, 1861 * Filippo De Boni, ''Biografia degli artisti'', Venezia co' Tipi del Gondoliere, 1840, pag.752 * Matthew Pilkington, ''A general dictionary of painters: containing memoirs of the lives and works of the most eminent professors of the art of painting'', vol. II, Londra, Thomas MacLean, 1824, pag.138

External links