Offered by Didascalies
François Marius Granet, born on December 17, 1775 in Aix-en-Provence, where he died on November 21, 1849, was a French Neoclassical painter and draughtsman.
François Marius Granet took drawing classes at the Académie d’Aix-en-Provence in the studio of the Aix painter Jean-Antoine Constantin.
In 1796, Granet moved to Paris, where, on the recommendation of Auguste de Forbin, he became a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. Living alongside the painters Anne-Louis Girodet and Dominique Ingres in the disused Capuchin convent, he produced views of the cloister, which would remain his specialty.
Stay in Rome (1802–1824):
In 1802, he went to Rome, where he drew ancient monuments. He also became known for his interior scenes of churches and convents, painted in a very dark Dutch-inspired style. He received a gold medal at the Salon of 1808.
Between Versailles and Paris (1824–1847):
After his return to France in 1824, he became curator at the Louvre Museum and made a final stay in Rome in 1829–1830, before returning to his bastide of Malvalat, at the place known as Les Granettes, in Aix-en-Provence.
Louis-Philippe I, King of the French and one of his collectors, then called upon him for the position of curator at the Château de Versailles in 1833.
During this period, Granet painted exceptional watercolours alongside his official painting.
The final years (1848–1849):
He retired to Les Granettes, in Aix, before the Revolution of 1848. Upon his death in 1849, the contents of his studio, his drawings, as well as his collections of 17th-century Dutch and Italian art, were bequeathed to the city of Aix-en-Provence and formed an essential part of the collection of the Aix museum, which was renamed Musée Granet in his honour in 1949, on the centenary of his death.
The painting we are presenting therefore corresponds to his Italian period, signed lower right: Granet in Tivoli and dated 1810.
Oil on canvas, private collection.
Dimensions: H. 41 cm × W. 32.5 cm
In perfect condition.
