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LANEUVILLE, Jean-Louis - b. 1748 Paris, d. 1826 Paris - WGA

LANEUVILLE, Jean-Louis

(b. 1748 Paris, d. 1826 Paris)

French painter. He was a pupil of his exact contemporary Jacques-Louis David, with whose work his own has frequently been confused. Nothing is known of his early training. David did not take on pupils until 1781, and Laneuville exhibited at the Salon de la Jeunesse in the Place Dauphine, Paris, from 1783 to 1789. He specialized in portraiture and during the French Revolution (1789-95) produced a sequence of paintings of deputies of the Convention, including Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac (1792-93; Bremen, Kunsthalle), Pierre-François-Joseph Robert and Joseph Delaunay (both exh. Salon 1793; Versailles, Château) and Jules-François Paré (exh. Salon 1795; Paris, Carnavalet). His approach was often similar to that of his master, and the Barère portrait was once attributed to David.

Laneuville’s portraits are characterized by monochromatic, neutral backgrounds, with the sitter usually seated, either turning his head as if momentarily disturbed or directly confronting the spectator. A thorough process of psychological probing is evident, and the tension of the image is increased by the highly detailed accessories and the sharp focus of the clothes. At the Salon of 1796 Laneuville exhibited the portrait of the revolutionary Thérèse Cabarrus, Citizeness Tallien, ‘Our Lady of Thermidor’ (untraced); she is shown imprisoned at La Force holding her recently cut hair in preparation for her execution (although this did not take place). The painting hung for only a few days before being removed, since it was an uncomfortable reminder of the bloodiness of the Terror. Laneuville was also active on the fringes of politics; in 1791 he was elected one of the non-academic commissioners to judge the award of the Prix d’Encouragement, and in 1796 he was a signatory to a pro-government petition defending the acquisition of looted works of art.

Portrait of Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac
Portrait of Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac by

Portrait of Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

Bertrand Bar�re de Vieuzac (1755-1841) was a French politician and journalist, one of the most notorious members of the National Convention during the French Revolution. Traditionally the Bar�re portrait is deemed to show the politician standing before the Tribunal of the Convention on 4 January 1793, demanding the death of Louis XVI; Laneuville, however, confused both the date of the King’s trial and the correspondence between the Gregorian and Revolutionary calendars, showing Bar�re resting his right hand on a sheet of paper dated 4 January 1792, Year II.

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