ARTISTIC BIOGRAPHY                

BARON ANTOINE JEAN GROS

“Light is a thing that cannot be reproduced, but must be represented by something else—by color.”

Antoine Jean Gros was born in Paris, France, into the family of a Parisian miniature painter, on March 16, 1771. Gros received his first lesson and began to draw at the age of six, trained by his father.

In 1785, at the age of 14, by his own choice, he became a pupil of Jacques Louis David, who was the acknowledge leader of the classical revival. Gros´s works became radically different from David´s, but he maintained a lifelong respect for his teacher and envisioned himself as the upholder of the Davidian tradition.

In 1787 Gros entered to the Academie de peinture in France. His father died on 1791 during the French revolution. After he lost the Prix de Rome competition and suffered his father's death and bankruptcy, Gros decided to portrait painting for income. One year later he devoted himself wholly to his profession.

During the French revolution he was accused of sympathy to the royalists and he had to leave the country in 1793. With the help of his teacher David, Gros went to Italy, where he studied art by Peter Paul Rubens and the Venetians and there he met Napoleon, who would become the subject of some of Gros's most celebrated paintings. He lived mainly in Florence and Genoa, making a living from miniatures and portraits.

In 1796, in his return from Florence to Genoa, he met Josephine de Beauharnais. Gros followed her to Milan, where he was well-received by her husband Napoleon Bonaparte.

During the 1790’s Gros accompanied Napoleon on his campaigns, as an official Battle painter, and because of that he was named as Baron by Napoleon. He painted scenes such as:

ü  Napoleon Bonaparte at the Arcole (1801).

ü  Napoleon visiting the Pesthouse at Jaffa (1804).

ü  The Battle of Aboukir (1806).

ü  Napoleon at the battle of Eylau (1808).

ü  And Napoleon at the Pyramids (1810).

Some years later Gros tried to work in a more consciously Neoclassical style, but his lifeless composition on mythological subjects arose much criticism from the younger generation of painters. He never again approached the quality of his Napoleonic pictures.

His paintings began to show a different mixture of classic and romantic attitudes. He began to depress about the situation. On June 26, 1835, he was found drowned in the Seine at Meudon, near Sevres. He left a note for which became known that he was “tired of life, and betrayed by last faculties which rendered it bearable, he had resolved by end it”.

Jean Antoine Gros was one of the major painters in France because he was a revolutionary in his style of working, for this reason he is an example for new generations and if anyone tries to revolutionize at painting or work he or she will surely succeed. 

And that is why I chose to write about Antoine Jean Gros, because he was much admired in his decade, for his skill and mastery to paint his paintings and portraits; he was one of the most favorite painters of Napoleon Bonaparte. His style was blended by features and characteristics of different artistic currents such as the Neoclassicism, the Romanticism and Realism. For example, some romantic paintings traits are the appearance of exotic settings.

By Cecilia Emily Diaz.