Étienne de La Vallée Poussin

{{short description|French painter}}

File:Adoration des bergers.jpg

Étienne de La Vallée Poussin ({{IPA|fr|etjɛn də la vale pusɛ̃}}; 1735–1802), also called Delavallée-Poussin in certain biographies, was a French history painter and creator of interior decorative schemes.

Life

Related on his mother's side to the family of the great painter Nicolas Poussin, La Vallée-Poussin was born in Rouen, where he attended the école des Beaux-Arts, under Descamps, and made rapid progress in his studies. After having been one of the top laureates of the school three times, he went to Paris to perfect his art. Welcomed into the workshop of Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, the royal painter, he won the 1759 1e prix de l'Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture and set off for Italy.

La Vallée-Poussin spent many years in Rome, where he was admitted to the Maltese order with the rank of "Cavalier Donato" (i.e. not of noble lineage, but given for services rendered to the order) and where he became a member of the Academy of Arcadia. On his return to France, he was in 1789 admitted to the Académie de Peinture, with a tableau de réception entitled Return of the young Tobias and his meeting his mother and father. He died in Paris.

Collections

His work is held in the permanent collections of several institutions worldwide, including the British Museum,{{Cite web|title=drawing {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1963-1214-18|access-date=2021-04-09|website=The British Museum|language=en}} the Philadelphia Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections : Search Collections|url=https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?searchTxt=&bSuggest=1&searchNameID=2194|access-date=2021-04-09|website=www.philamuseum.org}} the Cooper Hewitt,{{Cite web|title=Etienne de Lavallée-Poussin {{!}} People {{!}} Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum|url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/people/18042393/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=collection.cooperhewitt.org}} the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,{{Cite web|title=Le Temple de Gnide: suivi d'Arsace et Isménie|url=https://collections.mfa.org/objects/598703/le-temple-de-gnide-suivi-darsace-et-ismenie;jsessionid=8AE91B30F29382BC9B9F5D44617D5B86|access-date=2021-04-09|website=collections.mfa.org|language=en}} the National Gallery of Canada,{{Cite web|title=Étienne de Lavallée-Poussin|url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/etienne-de-lavallee-poussin|access-date=2021-04-09|website=www.gallery.ca|language=en}} the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts,{{Cite web|title=Study for Singers and Musicians Playing the Double Bass, Flute and Harpsichord|url=https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/works/64962/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=www.mbam.qc.ca|language=en}} and the Victoria and Albert Museum.{{Cite web|last=Museum|first=Victoria and Albert|title=Panels {{!}} Clérisseau, Charles-Louis {{!}} Lavallée-Poussin, Etienne de {{!}} Clérisseau, Charles-Louis {{!}} V&A Explore The Collections|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115338/panels-cl%C3%A9risseau-charles-louis/|access-date=2021-04-09|website=Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections|language=en}}

Works

= Paintings =

  • The Miracle of the prophet Elijah in multiplying the oil for the poor widow - this is the painting with which he won his Grand Prix
  • Portrait of Benedict XIV, Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen
  • The birth of Jesus Christ and Adoration of the Shepherds (two massive canvases)
  • The Flight to Egypt (1774) in the Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of the church of Sant'Eustachio in Rome
  • Anacreon, Sappho, Eros and a Female Dancer (circa 1790) at the [http://collections.umfa.utah.edu/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/4716 Utah Museum of Fine Arts]

=Books=

File:Houghton Typ 725.64.812 - Subleyras, plate XI.jpg

  • The work entitled Nella venuta in Roma (The Arrival in Rome), published in a quarto volume in 1764, contained various figures by La Vallée-Poussin.
  • Another publication, by Alexandre Lenoir, contains forty plates of arabesques for interior decoration, of the type at which La Vallée-Poussin excelled. "The drawings of this painter of Rouen", writes Chennevières, "are greatly beautiful in character, full of feeling and render themselves truly worthy of the proud name which they bear."

= Drawings =

  • Prayer : women and children kneeling or sitting in church, Musée du Louvre
  • Monks distributing soup to the poor, Musée du Louvre

See also

Bibliography

{{Commons category|Étienne de La Vallée-Poussin}}

  • Ludovic de La Vallée Poussin, Étienne de La Vallée Poussin, peintre d'histoire et décorateur (1735-1802), Rouen, Cagniard, 1927

References

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