ANTIGNA, Alexandre

Alexandre (Jean-Pierre-Alexandre) Antigna, French painter. He was taught at the school of drawing in Orléans by a local painter, François Salmon (1781-1855). On 9 October 1837 he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, first in the atelier of Sebastien Norblin de la Gourdaine (1796-1884). A year later he became a pupil of Paul Delaroche, from whom he acquired his understanding of dramatic composition.

Until 1845 his paintings were generally religious scenes and portraits. Yet, after living in the poor quarter of the Île Saint-Louis in Paris he would incorporate images of the suffering and burden of urban poor into his works. By the 1848 Revolution Antigna was devoted to the Realist style, and continued to paint in this manner until c. 1860 when he began to produce paintings in the Naturalist vein. He exhibited at the Salon and received the Legion of Honour in 1861. He traveled to Spain and Brittany numerous times in order to paint multifarious scenes, yet he always retained his compassion for the poor.

Antigna married Helene-Marie Pettit in 1861, who became a painter herself. Their son, Andre-Marc Antigna, was also a painter and miniaturist.