Feature Articles


August Issue 2000

Columbia Museum Of Art in Columbia, SC, Examines The Evolution of 18th Century French Painting

The Columbia Museum of Art in downtown Columbia, SC, is privileged to be the opening venue for the national tour of From the Sun King to the Royal Twilight: Painting in Eighteenth-Century France from the Musée de Picardie, Amiens. The exhibition, a sumptuous overview of French painting from the end of the reign of Louis XIV to the fall of the French monarchy, opens at the Museum on Aug. 26 and runs through Oct. 29, 2000.

The exhibition is comprised of 76 paintings from the renowned collection of the Musée de Picardie, Amiens, France. The paintings on view reveal the development of pictorial variations within the established genres of history and religious painting, landscape, portraiture and still life, over the course of the politically tumultuous century.

The exhibition is arranged chronologically according to the reigns of Louis XIV, the Sun King (1643-1715), Louis XV (1715-74) and Louis XVI (1774-92). Masters like François Boucher, Jean-Siméon Chardin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Nicolas Lancret and Hubert Robert are represented alongside lesser-known artists, many of whom were first painters to the king or directors of the powerful French Academy in Rome, such as Louis Aubert, Noel Halls, Jean Restout, and Charles-André, called Carle Vanloo. The paintings reflect the shift from royal commissions to patronage by the emerging bourgeoisie, and portray the movement away from the official and, at times, historical subjects highly prized under Louis XIV, toward an intimate and more imaginative rendering of the same subjects.

Each of the three sections is introduced by a grand portrait of the ruling sovereign, on loan from the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orleans. The first section, devoted to the reign of Louis XIV, brings to life the pomp of the court of Versailles with splendid portraits, including Portrait of a Magistrate (c. 1715), Portrait of a Magistrate's Wife (c. 1715), and the opulent Still Life with Fruit (c. 1695-1700) by Nicolas de Largilliere (1656-1746).

Works created during the reign of Louis XV make up the largest portion of the exhibition. The grandiose and elegant art that epitomizes this period is represented by works such as the Ailing Alexander Receives the Potion from His Doctor, Philip (1747) by Restout and The Martyrdom of Saint Theodora of Antioch and Didymus (c. 1740) by Pierre Subleyras (1699-1749). A group of pastoral scenes attributed to Bonaventure deBar (1700-1729) embody the emerging taste for lavish outdoor festivals, picturing graceful, amorous figures in park-like settings. Four paintings by Boucher, including The Abduction of Europa (1732-34), and The Birth of Venus (c.1740-50), represent the diverse genres in which the artist excelled, including grand festivals and mythological scenes. This section also demonstrates the courtly taste for hunting scenes, including paintings from the illustrious series by Charles Parrocel (1688-1752), Boucher and Nicolas Lancret commissioned by Louis XV for the Petite Galerie at Versailles. Examples of the intimate, subtly colored still-life paintings of Chardin, such as Still Life with Two Rabbits, Gamebag and Powder Horn (c. 1750-55), reflect the pervasive artistic climate at the end of reign of Louis XV.

The graceful style and aesthetics made popular by Boucher continued under Louis XVI, with paintings by Fragonard, Hallé and Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805). Fragonard's lively brushstroke and skillful use of "chiaroscuro" can be seen in The Cradle (c. 1761-65). Hubert Robert is represented by several major canvases depicting scenes set among ancient ruins, including Landscape with a Man Lifting a Block of Stone at the Foot of a Statue of Hercules (c. 1790-1800).

In describing the collection of the Musée de Picardie, Amiens in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, Pierre Rosenberg, director of the Musée du Louvre, writes, "It must be admitted that few museums in the world can pride themselves on so rich and diversely stimulating an ensemble of French paintings from the period."

The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Musée de Picardie, Amiens.

A variety of themed tours covering this exhibit will be offered. For information on themes and dates, call 803/799-2810. To schedule a group tour, contact the Museum Tour Coordinator at 803/343-2209.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the museum at 803/799-2810.

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