Pierre-Noël Violet (1749–1819) was a Flemish-French miniature-painter, who spent the latter part of his life in London.

Life

Born in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, Violet was an artist in

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, moving to Paris in 1782. He left Paris during the French Revolution, but not before etching portraits of some of the members of the National Assembly in 1789. In that or the following year he settled in London, and in 1790 he exhibited 11 miniatures at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, including a portrait of

Marie-Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the wife of Louis XVI. Born Archd ...

. He continued to exhibit miniatures. Violet died in London on 9 December 1819.

Works

Violet from 1798 showed drawings of domestic and fancy subjects at the Royal Academy, every year from 1798 to 1819. His portraits of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

and Marie-Antoinette, 1790, and George, Prince of Wales, 1791, and other works, were engraved by

Francesco Bartolozzi __NOTOC__ Francesco Bartolozzi (21 September 1727 – 7 March 1815) was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London. He is noted for popularizing the "crayon" method of engraving. Early life Bartolozzi was born in Flo ...

. Other portraits engraved from Violet's miniatures are those

Hester Piozzi Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821)Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January 1740. The pro ...

by Mariano Bovi, and Gaetano Bartolozzi by

Thomas Tomkins Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mu ...

. A set of etchings of domestic subjects, worked over in stipple by Violet, was published by Moltens in 1810. Before Violet left France, he published a treatise on miniature-painting, ''Traité élémentaire de l'art de peindre en miniature'' (1788). A supplement, containing the author's portrait, was published at Rome in 1788, and the treatise was translated into German in 1795.

Family

By 1771, Violet had married Marguerite Becret. They had daughters, Maria, who married James Brook Pulham, an India House clerk and artist, and exhibited at the Royal Academy; and Cecilia, who married Louis Ferrière.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Violet, Pierre-Noel 1749 births 1819 deaths 18th-century Flemish painters 18th-century French painters French portrait painters Flemish portrait painters 19th-century French painters People from Flemish Brabant