11 Works, Today, March 30th. is artist François-Léon Benouville's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #88

François-Léon Benouville (French, 1821–1859)

Portrait of Leconte de Floris in an Egyptian Army Uniform, c. 1840

Oil on canvas

52 3/4 x 35 1/2 in

The Dahesh Museum of Art

This portrait was completed by Benouville around age 19, while he was likely still a student at the École des Beaux-Arts. The sitter was one of the French military officers sent to Egypt as envoys of King Louis-Philippe to thank the Viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha, for donating the ancient Obelisk of Rameses II, erected in Paris’s Place de la Concorde in 1836. There are two preparatory sketches in the archives of the Louvre that show the sitter wearing a large turban, which in the final painting was transformed into a large red fez. These drawings come from the notebooks of Benouville’s brother. More on this painting

François-Léon Benouville (Paris 30 March 1821 – 16 February 1859 Paris) was a French painter noted for his Neoclassical religious compositions and for painting Orientalist subjects.

François-Léon Benouville  (1821–1859)

Odaliske/ Esther, c. 1844

Oil on canvas

Height: 124 cm (48.8 in); Width: 162 cm (63.7 in)

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau

Esther is described in all versions of the Book of Esther as the Jewish queen of a Persian king Ahasuerus. In the narrative, Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, refuses to obey him, and Esther is chosen for her beauty. The king's chief adviser, Haman, is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian, Mordecai, and gets permission from the king to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed. Esther foils the plan, and wins permission from the king for the Jews to kill their enemies, and they do so. Her story provides a traditional background for Purim, which is celebrated on the date given in the story for when Haman's order was to go into effect, which is the same day that the Jews killed their enemies after the plan was reversed. More on Esther

Leon Benouville

Luna

Oil on canvas

I have no further description, at this time

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin luna; cf. English "lunar"). She is often presented as the female complement of the Sun, Sol, conceived of as a god.

Léon Benouville  (1860–1903)

Saint Francois d'Assise, transporté mourant à Sainte-Marie-des-Anges, bénit la ville d'Assise/ Saint Francis of Assisi, transported dying to Sainte-Marie-des-Anges, blesses the city of Assisi, Salon of 1853

Oil on canvas

Height: 91 cm (35.8 in)

Orsay museum, Paris, France

An angel gave Saint Francis the gift of the five wounds of Christ." Suffering from these stigmata and from trachoma, Francis received care in several cities to no avail. In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where the Franciscan movement began, and feeling that the end of his life was approaching, he spent his last days dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of Saturday, 3 October 1226. More on Saint Francis

Léon François Benouville.

Jeanne d’Arc écoutant ses voix/ Joan of Arc listening to her voices

Oil on canvas. 

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen

Joan of Arc, a peasant girl living in medieval France. At the age of 13, Joan began to hear voices, which she determined had been sent by God to give her a mission of overwhelming importance: to save France by expelling its enemies, and to install Charles as its rightful king. 

With no military training, Joan convinced the embattled crown prince Charles of Valois to allow her to lead a French army to the besieged city of Orléans, where it achieved a momentous victory over the English and their French allies, the Burgundians. After seeing the prince crowned King Charles VII, Joan was captured by Anglo-Burgundian forces, tried for witchcraft and heresy and burned at the stake in 1431, at the age of 19. By the time she was officially canonized in 1920, the Maid of Orléans (as she was known) had long been considered one of history’s greatest saints, and an enduring symbol of French unity and nationalism. More on Joan of Arc

Léon Benouville first studied with his elder brother, Jean-Achille Benouville (1815–1891), in the studio of François-Edouard Picot before he transferred to École des Beaux-Arts in 1837. Like his brother he received the Prix de Rome in 1845.

Francois-Léon Benouville  (1821–1859)

Martyrs chrétiens entrant à l'amphithéâtre/ Christian martyrs entering the amphitheatre, c. 1855

Oil on canvas

H. 470,0 ; L. 390,5 cm.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

The word martyr comes from the Greek martys, meaning "witness": literally, the martyros is the one who bears witness, according to the call of Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria. , and to the ends of the earth ” (Acts 1: 8). More on Christian martyrs

Christians were first targeted for persecution as a group by the emperor Nero in 64 AD. A colossal fire broke out at Rome, and destroyed much of the city. Rumours abounded that Nero himself was responsible. He took advantage of the resulting devastation of the city, building a lavish private palace on part of the site of the fire.

Perhaps to divert attention from the rumours, Nero ordered that Christians should be rounded up and killed. Some were torn apart by dogs, others burnt alive as human torches.

Over the next hundred years or so, Christians were sporadically persecuted. It was not until the mid-third century that emperors initiated intensive persecutions. More on Christian prosecutions 

Both he and his brother travelled to Rome. In Rome, as a Prix de Rome pensionary at the Villa Medici. He remained there for a year, but his brother stayed on for two more years. His works produced in Rome are influenced by early Christianity and often show representations of antiquity.

Francois Léon Benouville (French, 1821–1859)

Allégorie de la chasse et de la pêche/ Allegory of hunting and fishing, c. 1856

Oil on canvas

107 x 79 cm. (42.1 x 31.1 in.)

Private collection

François-Léon Benouville

Nicolas Poussin on the Banks of the Tiber

Oil on canvas

Height: 22.7 cm (8.94 in.), Width: 39.5 cm (15.55 in.)

Amsterdam Museum

Nicolas Poussin (June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a small group of Italian and French collectors. He returned to Paris for a brief period to serve as First Painter to the King under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, but soon returned to Rome and resumed his more traditional themes. More on Nicolas Poussin

Francois-Leon Benouville

Lavandière/ Washerwoman

Watercolor gouache

24.5 x 32.5 cm 

Private collection

Benouville was best known for his portraits, mythological and religious compositions in the Neoclassical and Orientalist style. He worked in oils, ink and chalk.

Francois-Léon Benouville  (1821–1859)

The Wrath of Achilles, c. 1847

Oil on canvas

Height: 159.5 cm (62.7 in); Width: 95 cm (37.4 in)

Fabre museum, Montpellier, France

Bénouville's painting of Achilles, a popular subject for nineteenth-century painters, shows the Greek hero at the moment where, after quarrelling with his leader, Agamemnon, he retreats from battle to his tent in a rage. Humiliated, Achilles refuses to continue fighting with the Greeks, who subsequently suffer a series of catastrophic defeats. As Agamemnon's envoys enter Achilles' tent, in the hope of convincing him to return to battle, Achilles springs to his feet, launching into a tirade. With a dramatic realism, Bénouville renders this precise, violent moment. More on The Wrath of Achilles

Francois Leon Benouville, French 1821 - 1859

Jésus dans le prétoire/ Jesus in the Praetorium, c. 1845

Oil on canvas

Orsay museum, Paris, France

In the canonical gospels, Pilate's court refers to the trial of Jesus in praetorium before Pontius Pilate, preceded by the Sanhedrin Trial. In the Gospel of Luke, Pilate finds that Jesus, being from Galilee, belonged to Herod Antipas' jurisdiction, and so he decides to send Jesus to Herod. After questioning Jesus and receiving very few replies, Herod sees Jesus as no threat and returns him to Pilate. Fearing defilement, the Jews did not enter the court, and Pilate's discussion with them occurred outside the praetorium. More on the praetorium

In 1845, Benouville, together with contemporary Alexandre Cabanel, was the recipient the Prix de Beaux Arts for his painting, Jesus at the Pretorium. More on François-Léon Benouville

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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