Léon Auguste Adolphe Belly (1827–1877) was a French
landscape painter
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...
.
Life
Belly was born at
St. Omer, in 1827. He studied under
Troyon
Troyon () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
See also
*Communes of the Meuse department
*Parc naturel régional de Lorraine
Lorraine Regional Natural Park ( French: ''Parc naturel régional de Lorrain ...
, and in 1849 visited
Barbizon
Barbizon () is a commune (town) in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest.
Demographics
The inhabitants are called ''Barbizonais''.
Art history
The Barbizon school of painters is n ...
where he came under the influence of
Théodore Rousseau
Étienne Pierre Théodore Rousseau (; 15 April 181222 December 1867) was a French painter of the Barbizon school.
Life
Youth
He was born in Paris, France in a bourgeois family.
At first he received a basic level of training, but soon displa ...
.
[
In 1850–1 he travelled to Greece, Syria, and Egypt. In 1853 he made his debut at the Paris Salon, exhibiting four landscapes of ]Nablus
Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...
and Beirut
Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
, and of the shores of the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...
, which attracted critical acclaim. In 1855–6 he visited Egypt, travelling up the Nile in the company of another painter, Edouard Imer. A second trip to Egypt in 1856 was largely spent making studies for his painting ''Pilgrims going to Mecca'', now in the Musée d'Orsay.[
As well as his paintings of Middle Eastern subjects he painted portraits and landscapes of Normandy and the ]Sologne
Sologne (; ) is a natural region in Centre-Val de Loire, France, extending over portions of the departements of Loiret, Loir-et-Cher and Cher. Its area is about . To its north is the river Loire, to its south the river Cher, while the district ...
throughout his career, and in 1867 bought land at Montboulan. He died in Paris in 1877.[
]
Works
His paintings include:
*''Twilight in November''.
*''Fishers of équilles''.
*''The Desert of Nassoub''. 1857.
*''The Plain of Djyseh''.
*'' Pilgrims going to Mecca'', ("Pèlerins allant à la Mecque") 1861. Paris, Musée d'Orsay.
Gallery
File:Léon Belly - La dahabieh engravée, Égypte (1877).jpg , La dahabieh engravée
File:Ulysses And The Sirens by Léon Belly.jpg, Ulysses And The Sirens by Léon Belly
File:Léon Belly View of Shubra.jpg, View of Shubra
References
Sources
*
Further reading
* Pouillon, F., ''Dictionnaire des Orientalistes de Langue Française,'' KARTHALA, 2008, p. 75
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belly, Leon
French male painters
French landscape artists
French orientalists
French Orientalist painters
People from Saint-Omer
1827 births
1877 deaths
19th-century French painters
19th-century French male artists