Marc-Louis Arlaud

Marc-Louis Arlaud (26 September 1772, Orbe - 1 May 1845, Lausanne) was a Swiss portrait painter. He was the first Director of the Vaudoise Cantonal School of Design and the first Conservator of what is now known as the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne.

Portrait of the Arlaud Family

Biography

He originally attended school in Orbe, then in Yverdon. His initial artistic training came from his cousins, the miniaturists Louis-Ami Arlaud-Jurine and Jérémie Arlaud (1758-1827) in Geneva. In 1797, he went to Paris where he worked in the studios of another miniaturist, Antoine Louis Romanet (c. 1742-1810), until he could begin studies with Jacques-Louis David in 1799.

He and his father both became citizens (bourgeoisie) of Orbe in 1802.

In 1811, he was expelled from France for a "délit d'opinion" (offensive opinion) concerning the conduct of Napoleon and his government. He returned to Lausanne and opened a workshop where he taught drawing. In 1821, the Grand Council of Vaud adopted a decree that would establish an official drawing school. The following year, the Academy of Lausanne held a competition to select the first Director and chose Arlaud. He retained that position until his death.

Hoping to establish a fine arts museum, he donated 34,000 Francs to the city for that purpose. In exchange, he requested a lifelong pension and his offer was accepted in 1834. The museum was designed by Louis Wenger and inaugurated in 1841.[1] Arlaud was named to be the Curator/Conservator and held that position until 1844. During his tenure, he built the museum's collection, which included a large donation of paintings from the family of Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros and many works by contemporary artists.

Near the end of 1844, he became bedridden due to illness and died in Spring the following year. He left 2,500 Francs to the government of Vaud to commission a painting from Charles Gleyre, a local painter who was then living in Paris. The painting, which depicted the local hero, Abraham Davel, on the scaffold was completed in 1850. It was destroyed by fire during an act of vandalism in 1980.

In 1904, the works from the Musée Arlaud were transferred to the Palais de Rumine. The portion housing the collection is now known as the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts. [2].

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References
  1. L'espace Arlaud, ville de Lausanne
  2. "L'Espace Arlaud sur le site des musées vaudois". Archived from the original on 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2018-11-19.

Further reading
  • Brief biography: Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse
  • Émile Bonjour, Le musée Arlaud à Lausanne 1841-1904 : Son fondateur, Marc-Louis Arlaud - Ses bienfaiteurs - Son histoire - Son avenir - Charles Gleyre et le canton de Vaud. Lausanne, Georges Bridel & Cie, 1905.
  • Louis Polla, Rues de Lausanne, éditions 24 heures, 1981 ISBN 2-8265-0050-3
  • Biography from Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800 by Neil Jeffares
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