Jean Alaux, called "le Romain" ("the Roman"), (1785 - 2 March 1864) was a French history

History painting

History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and Director of the French Academy in Rome

French Academy in Rome

The French Academy in Rome is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio in Rome, Italy.-History:...

 from 1846-52.

Life and work

Alaux was born in Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

, the son of a painter, and the second of four brothers who were all themselves painters. he received his first lessons in art from his father, but went on to formal training with Pierre Lacour, then Pierre-Narcisse Guérin

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin

Pierre-Narcisse, baron Guérin was a French painter.-Biography:Guérin was born in Paris.A pupil of Jean-Baptiste Regnault, he carried off one of the three grands prix offered in 1796, in consequence of the competition not having taken place since 1793...

. He was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1807. From 1808 he entered works for the Prix de Rome

Prix de Rome

The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...

 but his energies were diverted when his elder brother, Jean-Francois Alaux (1783-1858), asked him to help with a large "neorama" (a type of Panorama

Panorama

A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....

) he was working on. Jean eventually won the Prix de Rome's first prize in 1815, with a work entitled "Briseis

Briseis

Brisēís was a mythical queen in Asia Minor at the time of the Trojan War. Her character lies at the center of a dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon that drives the plot of Homer's Iliad.-Story:...

 weeping over the body of Patroclus

Patroclus

In Greek mythology, as recorded in the Iliad by Homer, Patroclus, or Patroklos , was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms....

", a scene inspired by The Iliad of Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

. He subsequently became a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 from 1816 to 1820 (later becoming its director).

Amongst his fellow artists at the Academy were luminaries such as Drolling

Michel Martin Drolling

Michel Martin Drolling was a neoclassic French painter , painter of history and portraitist.-Biographie:He was born in Paris. There he began painting under the supervision of his father, the painter Martin Drolling, then after 1806 he studied with Jacques Louis David. For his Colère of Achilles...

, Picot

François-Édouard Picot

François-Edouard Picot was a French painter during the July Monarchy, painting mythological, religious and historical subjects.-Life:Born in Paris, Picot won the Prix de Rome painting scholarship in 1813...

 and Gogniet

Léon Cogniet

Léon Cogniet was a French historical and portrait painter.- Biography :Cogniet was born in Paris. In 1812, he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Pierre-Narcisse Guérin at the same time as Delacroix and Géricault. In 1817 he won the Prix de Rome and was a resident at...

, and sculptors such as D'Angers, Pradier

James Pradier

James Pradier, also known as Jean-Jacques Pradier was a Swiss-born French sculptor best known for his work in the neoclassical style.-Life and work:...

 and Ramey

Etienne-Jules Ramey

Étienne-Jules Ramey called Ramey fils, was a French sculptor.Ramey was born in Paris, The pupil of his father, Claude Ramey , he trained in the studio of Pierre Cartellier, won the Prix de Rome in sculpture, 1815, with the subject, equally classicizing and sentimental, Ulysses recognized by his...

; he became a friend of Ingres

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Although he considered himself to be a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, by the end of his life it was Ingres's portraits, both painted and drawn, that were recognized as his greatest...

. His first painting there was "Cadmus killing the dragon at the fountains of Dirce". It was later purchased by the Duke of Orleans but destroyed in the fire which engulfed the Palais-Royal in the French Revolution of 1848

French Revolution of 1848

The 1848 Revolution in France was one of a wave of revolutions in 1848 in Europe. In France, the February revolution ended the Orleans monarchy and led to the creation of the French Second Republic. The February Revolution was really the belated second phase of the Revolution of 1830...

. He also painted, there, "Diamedes carrying off the palladium" and "Episodes in the combats between the centaurs and the Lapithes". In 1821, he returned to France, where his reputation steadily grew with works such as "The Baptism of Clovis" (1825), "States General of 1838", "The Assembly of the notables at Rouen in 1596" and "States General 1614". Under the July Monarchy

July Monarchy

The July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...

, he worked at the "Galerie des batailles" at the Château de Versailles, for which he painted The Battle of Villaviciosa

Battle of Villaviciosa

The Battle of Villaviciosa took place on December 10, 1710, between the Franco-Spanish army led by Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme and Philip V of Spain and the Habsburg-Allied army commanded by the Austrian Guido Starhemberg during the War of the Spanish Succession, one day after the decisive...

 (1836); The Capture of Valenciennes

Valenciennes

Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...

 (1837); The Battle of Denain

Battle of Denain

The Battle of Denain was fought on 24 July 1712, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession, and resulted in a French victory under Marshal Villars against Austrian and Dutch forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy.-Prelude:...

 (1839).

He was appointed director of the French Academy in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 in 1846 and was caught up in the siege of Rome of 1849, involving defending Italian forces under Garibaldi and the invading French army; he and the students were forced to temporarily flee the city for France. His directorship ended, quietly, in 1852.

Alaux died in Paris on 2nd March 1864.

External links

• Paintings by Alaux (Insecula)
• Portrait of Jean Alaux by Ingres (Christies)
• The atelier of Ingres in Rome (Christie's)