Théophile Silvestre
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Simon Clément Louis Théophile Silvestre (12 October 1823 – 20 June 1876) was a French
art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...
and
critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...
. He is known for creating ''History of Living Artists, French and Foreign: Studies from Nature'', a collection of contemporaneous biographical studies of European artists of the mid-19th century.


Early life and education

Théophile Silvestre He was born on 12 October 1823 in Le Fossat, Ariège, France, to a bourgeois Catholic family. He was the son of the tax collector of Artigat. He studied at the seminary in
Pamiers Pamiers (; ) is a commune and largest city in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the most populous commune in the Ariège department, although it is not t ...
. He then studied medicine in
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, law in Paris and attended courses at the
École Nationale des Chartes The École Nationale des Chartes (; ) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the auxiliary sciences of history, historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at the A ...
. Silvestre was appointed but not installed as sous-commissaire of Saint-Girons, Ariège. He was installed '' commissaire adjoint'' of Ariège on 5 April 1848, and resigned the next day. While he was a committed republican during the
Revolution of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
, he later became aligned with the
Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...
.


Critic and historian

In 1852, Silvestre began writing ''History of Living Artists, French and Foreign: Studies from Nature'' (), a collection of biographical studies of living painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, photographers and composers. The work was published in a series of booklets beginning in 1853. Silvestre commissioned photographers
Édouard Baldus Édouard Baldus (5 June 1813, Grünebach, Prussia – 1889, Arcueil) was a French Landscape art, landscape, architecture, architectural and railway photographer. Biography Early life Édouard-Denis Baldus was born on 5 June 1813 in Grünebach, P ...
and Henri Le Secq to produce portraits of his subjects and reproductions of their work to include in his studies. The first series, in order of appearance in the 1856 edition, included profiles of
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 â€“ 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...
,
Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 â€“ 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...
,
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 â€“ 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French Landscape art, landscape and Portraitist, portrait painter as well as a printmaking, printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in ...
, Paul Chenavard, Alexandre Gabriel Decamps,
Antoine-Louis Barye Antoine-Louis Barye (; 24 September 179525 June 1875) was a Romantic French sculptor most famous for his work as an ''animalier'', a sculptor of animals. His son and student was the sculptor Alfred Barye. Biography Born in Paris, France, Barye ...
,
Narcisse Virgilio Díaz Narcisse Virgilio Díaz de la Peña (20 August 180718 November 1876) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. Early life Diaz was born in Bordeaux to Spanish parents. At the age of ten, Diaz became an orphan, and misfortune dogged his early y ...
,
Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...
,
Antoine-Augustin Préault Antoine-Augustin Préault (6 October 1809 – 11 January 1879) was a French sculptor of the Romantic movement. Born in the Marais district of Paris, he was better known during his lifetime as Auguste Préault. Biography A student of David d ...
, and
François Rude François Rude (; 4 January 1784 – 3 November 1855) was a French sculptor, best known for the ''Departure of the Volunteers'', also known as ''La Marseillaise'' on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (1835–36). His work often expressed patriotic t ...
. The second series, which began publication in 1857, stopped after only the first issue on
Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (; 30 June 178917 January 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects. Biography Early career Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famo ...
who sued Silvestre to stop him from continued publication of Vernet's letters.


Later life and death

Silvestre died on 20 June 1876 in Paris at the home of
Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, ...
, following a lunch marking their reconciliation.


References

{{Authority control 1823 births 1876 deaths French art critics French art historians