François-Léon Benouville

François-Léon Benouville (Paris 30 March 1821 – 16 February 1859 Paris) was a French painter noted for his Neoclassical religious compositions and for painting Orientalist subjects.

François-Léon Benouville
Born30 March 1821
Paris
Died16 February 1859
Paris
EducationÉcole des Beaux-Arts
MovementNeoclassical, Orientalist
AwardsPrix de Rome (1845); Prix de Beaux Arts (1845) with Alexandre Cabanel

Life and career

Léon Benouville first studied with his elder brother, Jean-Achille Benouville (1815–1891), in the studio of François-Edouard Picot before he transferred to École des Beaux-Arts in 1837. Like his brother he received the Prix de Rome in 1845.

Both he and his brother travelled to Rome. In Rome, as a Prix de Rome pensionary at the Villa Medici. He remained there for a year, but his brother stayed on for two more years. His works produced in Rome are influenced by early Christianity and often show representations of antiquity.

Work and style
The Wrath of Achilles, by François-Léon Benouville (Musée Fabre)

Benouville was best known for his portraits, mythological and religious compositions in the Neoclassical and Orientalist style. He worked in oils, ink and chalk.

Awards, prizes and honours

In 1845, Benouville, together with contemporary Alexandre Cabanel, was the recipient the Prix de Beaux Arts for his painting, Jesus at the Pretorium.[1]

Select list of paintings
  • Portrait of Leconte de Floris 1840
  • Melancholy c. 1843
  • Esther 1844
  • The Mockery of Christ 1845
  • The Wrath of Achilles 1847
  • Christian Martyrs enter the Amphitheatre, c.1855
  • Samuel anoints David, 1842
  • Cincinnatus Receives a Deputation from the Senate, 1844
  • Jésus at the Pretorium 1843
  • The Wrath of Achilles, 1847
  • Christian Martyrs enter the Amphitheatre, c.1855
  • Portrait of Paul Baudry (French painter), c. 1855

See also

List of Orientalist artists Orientalism

References
  1. GLUECKAPRIL, G., [ART REVIEW] "After the Fad: A Salon Favorite Now Forgotten," [Review of Training an Artist: Alexandre Cabanel and the Academic Process in 19th-Century France Dahesh Museum, New York Times, 3 April-13 June 1998], 3 April 1998, Online: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/03/arts/art-review-after-the-fad-a-salon-favorite-now-forgotten.html?mcubz=3]

Media related to Léon Benouville at Wikimedia Commons


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