Baron François-Pascal-Simon Gérard
Baron François-Pascal-Simon Gérard
François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard (12 March 1770 – 11 January 1837) was a French painter born in Rome, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador. His mother was Italian.
François Gérard was born in Rome, on 12 March 1770, to J. S. Gérard and Cleria Matteï. At the age of twelve Gérard obtained admission into the Pension du Roi in Paris. From the Pension he passed to the studio of the sculptor Augustin Pajou which he left at the end of two years for that of the history painter Nicolas-Guy Brenet, whom he quit almost immediately to place himself under Jacques-Louis David.
In 1789 he competed for the Prix de Rome, which was carried off by his comrade Girodet. In the following year (1790) he again presented himself, but the death of his father prevented the completion of his work, and obliged him to accompany his mother to Rome. In 1791 he returned to Paris, but his poverty was so great that he was forced to forgo his studies in favor of employment which should bring in immediate profit. David at once availed himself of his help, and one of that master’s most celebrated portraits, of Le Pelletier de St Fargeaumay, owes much to the hand of Gérard. This painting was executed early in 1793, the year in which Gérard, at the request of David, was named a member of the revolutionary tribunal, from the fatal decisions of which he, however, invariably absented himself.
Gérard is best remembered for his portraits, the color of his paintings has suffered, but his drawings show in uninjured delicacy the purity of his line, and those of women are specially remarkable for a virginal simplicity and frankness of expression.
Marie-Louise, Empress of France with Her son Napoleon II, King of Rome,
Oil on canvas,
Musée National du Chateau de Versailles, Versailles, France ▼
Amor and Psyche
Oil on canvas, 186 x 132 cm,
Louvre Museum, Paris, France ▼
Ossian on the Bank of the Lora, Invoking the Gods to the Strains of a Harp
Oil on canvas, 184.5 x 1945,
Hamburger Kunshalle, Hamburg, Germany ▼
Portrait of Joséphine, Wife of Napoleon, at Malmaison, 1801
Oil on canvas, 178 x 174 cm,
The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia ▼
Portrait of Y.A. Tatishcheva, 1810
Oil on canvas, 60.5 x 50 cm,
The Art Museum of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus ▼
Portrait of a woman, 1810
Oil on canvas,
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy, France ▼
Marie-Julie Bonaparte, Queen of Spain, with Her Two Daughters Charlotte and Zénaide Bonaparte, 1809
Oil on canvas, 200 x 144 cm,
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland ▼
Portrait of count Victor Kochubey, 1809
Oil on canvas, 66 x 55.5 cm,
The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia ▼
Caroline Murat and her children, 1808
Oil on canvas,
Private collection ▼
Portrait of countess Regnault de Saint-Jean d’Angély,
Oil on wood, 103 x 74 cm,
Louvre Museum, Paris, France ▼
Portrait of count Reynault de Saint Jean d’Angély, 1808
Oil on canvas,
Musée National du Chateau de Versailles, Versailles, France ▼
Portrait of Juliette Recamier, 1805
Oil on canvas, 225 x 148 cm,
Carnavalet Museum, Paris, France ▼
Portrait of Catherine Starzenska, 1803
Oil on canvas, 215 x 130.5 cm,
The Lvov Picture Gallery, Lvov, Ukraine ▼
Portrait of the Painter Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767-1855) with his daughter, 1795
Oil on canvas, 195 x 130 cm,
Louvre Museum, Paris, France ▼
