Naked man lying, Joseph Marie Vien ( 1716-1809)

Born in Montpellier in 1716, Joseph Marie Vien was not destined by his father for a career as a painter, but thanks to his strong will and after being noticed by the Comte de Caylus and the painter Charles Natoire, he went to Paris with letters of recommendation in 1740.
A hard worker, he won 2nd place in the 1741 drawing competition, then 1st place in 1742, which enabled him to submit a work for the Prix de Rome, which he received in 1743.
A painter of integrity, he refused to give in to the style of pleasant scenes in vogue at the time, and was prevented from entering the Académie de Peinture, but thanks to the intervention of François Boucher (who put his resignation on the line) he was admitted in 1754.
Vien's neoclassical style found favor with the public, and in 1772 Madame Du Barry replaced Fragonard's paintings with those of François Xavier Vien in her château at Louveciennes. As the king's 1st painter, the king's buildings commissioned him to paint a series of scenes based on antiques, which disappeared during the French Revolution.
His studio trained a large number of painters, the most famous of whom was Jacques Louis David, the great exponent of neo-Classicism in the early 19th century.
He died in 1809, and was given a state funeral by Napoleon, the only painter to be laid to rest in the Pantheon.
The work :
An unclothed man is lying on a rock covered in a large drapery, a traveller's staff at his feet, suggesting a moment of reflection on existence, but the location is reminiscent of the plains of Tartarus, the place of exile in mythology.
Gazing towards a grey horizon from which neither the sun nor nature brings life, the only vision: cold, lifeless rocks, the man is alone, and what fault has he committed?
The painter depicts him as stronger than the fate that has befallen him. He does not collapse, his will is whole, his muscularity and determination exalt human nature, and he hopes for light.
This work is referenced in the catalogue raisonné on page 133 and illustrated no. 19a.
Joseph Marie Vien, T Gaehtgens and J. Lugand with the assistance of the Paul Getty Trust Arthena éditeur
His works are conserved in the museums of :
Paris le Louvre, petit Palais ; Montpellier musée Fabre, Reims , Lille, Amiens, Cleveland USA, Colombus USA
dimension sans cadre : 95 cm x 130 cm
dimension avec cadre : 122 cm x 151 cm