François-Léon Benouville

François-Léon Benouville
Born	30 March 1821 Paris
Died	16 February 1859 Paris
Education	École des Beaux-Arts
Movement	Neoclassical, Orientalist
Awards	Prix de Rome (1845); Prix des Beaux Arts (1845) with Alexandre Cabanel

François-Léon Benouville (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa leɔ̃ bənuvil]; Paris 30 March 1821 – 16 February 1859 Paris) was a French painter noted for his Neoclassical religious compositions and for painting Orientalist subjects.

Life and career

The Wrath of Achilles (1847), Musée Fabre, Montpellier

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. 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.

Work and style

Esther à l'odalisque (1844), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau

Joan of Arc hearing voices, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen

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

Awards, prizes and honours

In 1845, Benouville, together with contemporary Alexandre Cabanel, was the recipient of the Prix des Beaux Arts for his painting, Jesus at the Pretorium.

Select list of paintings

• Portrait of Leconte de Floris 1840
• Melancholy c. 1843
• Esther 1844
• The Mockery of Christ 1845
• The Wrath of Achilles 1847
• Christian Martyrs enter the Amphitheatre, c.1855

Gallery

• 
  Samuel anoints David, 1842
• 
  Cincinnatus Receives a Deputation from the Senate, 1844
• 
  Jésus at the Pretorium, 1843, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
• 
  Christian Martyrs enter the Amphitheatre,
  c. 1855, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
• 
  Portrait of Paul Baudry (French painter), c. 1855

See also

List of Orientalist artists Orientalism

External links

Media related to Léon Benouville at Wikimedia Commons

• François-Léon Benouville on Artcyclopedia
• Hudson River school visions: the landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Benouville (see index)