Trained in David's studio, François Gérard was renowned throughout his career for both his history paintings and his portraits. From 1795 until his death, he produced images of his contemporaries, and enjoyed a level success that few other artists of his time were able to boast of.
Marrying elegance with psychological depth, his early works introduced the painter to a clientele who were perpetually seeking recognition. From 1800, Napoleon's commissions gave him an official position.
From then on appointed as portraitist to the Imperial family and to the court, Gérard produced ambitious compositions in the vein of the great masters of the Ancien Régime, such as Hyacinthe Rigaud, Carle Vanloo and Duplessis, always paying attention to the pomp of a court that wanted to style itself the heir of its Bourbon predecessor.
Reuniting some 70 works from public and private collections in France and from many European museums, this retrospective finally pays homage to the artist who was known to his contemporaries as “the painter of kings and the king of painters.”
Langue(s) : French.