| Georges
Antoine Rochegrosse (attr.), French (1859 - 1938)
French painter, printmaker
and illustrator. Stepson of the poet Théodore de Banville,
he came from a literary and artistic background. He received
his early training from Alfred Dehodencq and later studied at
the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger and Jules
Lefebvre. Rochegrosse was one of the most popular Salon painters
at the end of the 19th century. From 1882 he exhibited large-scale
historical paintings drawn from the Bible and Classical mythology
and reconstructed with meticulous archaeological detail (e.g.
Vitellius Dragged through the Streets of Rome, 1882; Sens, Mus.
Mun.). His preference for dramatic scenes of violent excess and
carnage was endorsed by official taste when in 1887 his Death
of Caesar (1887; Grenoble, Mus. Peint. & Sculp.) was acquired
by the State. He also painted murals in the library of the Sorbonne,
Paris (1898). Extensive travel in Egypt and North Africa encouraged
his use of a rich, often garish palette and vigorous handling
(e.g. Oriental Musician; Moulins, Mus. Moulins). Rochegrosse
gained medals at the Salons of 1882 and 1883 and in 1888 was
awarded the Salon prize. He was made Chevalier of the Légion
d’honneur in 1892 and an Officer in 1910.
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