Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson

{{Short description|French painter (1767–1824)}} {{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox artist | name = Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson | image = Anne-Louis Girodet autoportrait.jpg | caption = Self-portrait, 1790 | birth_name = Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson | birth_date = {{birth date|1767|1|29|df=y}} | birth_place = Montargis, Orléanais, France | death_date = {{death date and age|1824|12|9|1767|1|5|df=y}} | death_place = Paris, France | resting_place = Père Lachaise Cemetery | field = Painting | training = | movement = Neoclassicism, Romanticism | works = ''Ossian receiving the ghosts of the fallen French Heroes'', 1801; ''The Funeral of Atala'', 1808; ''Portrait de Chateaubriand méditant sur les ruines de Rome'', after 1808 | signature = Signature d'Anne-Louis Girodet 1799.jpg }}

'''Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson''' ({{IPA|fr|an lwi ʒiʁɔdɛ də ʁusi tʁijozɔ̃}}; or ''de Roucy''), also known as '''Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson''' or simply '''Girodet''' (29 January 1767{{snd}}9 December 1824),<ref name=Long>Long, George. (1851) ''The Supplement to the Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge'', C. Knight.</ref> was a French painter and pupil of Jacques-Louis David, who participated in the early Romantic movement by including elements of eroticism in his paintings. Girodet is remembered for his precise and clear style and for his paintings of members of the Napoleonic family.

==Early career== Girodet was born at Montargis. Both of his parents died when he was a young adult. The care of his inheritance and education fell to his guardian, a prominent physician named Benoît-François Trioson, "''médecin-de-mesdames''", who later adopted him. The two men remained close throughout their lives and Girodet took the surname Trioson in 1812.<ref name=Long /> In school he first studied architecture and pursued a military career.<ref name=Polet>Polet, Jean-Claude. (1992) ''Patrimoine littéraire européen'', De Boeck Université. 730 pages. {{ISBN|2-8041-1526-7}}.</ref> He changed to the study of painting under a teacher named Luquin and then entered the school of Jacques-Louis David. At the age of 22 he successfully competed for the {{lang|fr|Prix de Rome|italic=no}} with a painting of the ''Story of Joseph and his Brethren''.<ref name=Polet /><ref>Heck, Johann Georg. (1860) ''Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science'', D. Appleton and company.</ref> From 1789 to 1793 he lived in Italy and while in Rome he painted his ''Hippocrate refusant les presents d'Artaxerxes'' and ''Endymion-dormant'' (now in the Louvre), a work which gained him great acclaim at the Salon of 1793 and secured his reputation as a leading painter in the French school.

Once he returned to France, Girodet painted many portraits, including some of members of the Bonaparte family. In 1806, in competition with the ''Sabines'' of David, he exhibited his ''{{interlanguage link|Scène du déluge|fr}}'' (Louvre), which was awarded the decennial prize.<ref name=Long /> In 1808 he produced the ''Reddition de Vienne'' and ''Atala au tombeau'', a work which won immense popularity, by its fortunate choice of subject – François-René de Chateaubriand's novel ''Atala'', first published in 1801 – and its remarkable departure from the theatricality of Girodet's usual manner. He would return to his theatrical style in ''La Révolte du Caire'' (1810).<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Girodet de Roussy, Anne Louis|volume=12|page=48}}</ref>

Girodet was a member of the Academy of Painting and of the Institut de France, a knight of the Order of Saint Michael, and officer of the Legion of Honour.<ref name=Long /> Among his pupils were Hyacinthe Aubry-Lecomte, Augustin Van den Berghe the Younger, François Edouard Bertin, Angélique Bouillet, Alexandre-Marie Colin, Marie Philippe Coupin de la Couperie, Henri Decaisne, Paul-Emile Destouches, Achille Devéria, Eugène Devéria, Savinien Edme Dubourjal, Joseph Ferdinand Lancrenon, Antonin Marie Moine, Jean Jacques François Monanteuil, Henry Bonaventure Monnier, Rosalie Renaudin, Johann Heinrich Richter, François Edme Ricois, Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury, and Philippe Jacques Van Brée.<ref>[http://explore.rkd.nl/explore/artists/31961 Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson] in the RKD</ref>

In his forties his powers began to fail, and his habit of working at night and other excesses weakened his constitution. In the Salon of 1812 he exhibited only a ''Tête de Vierge''; in 1819 ''Pygmalion et Galatée'' showed a further decline of strength. In 1824, the year in which he produced his portraits of Cathelineau and Bonchamps, Girodet died on December 9 in Paris.<ref name="EB1911"/> At a sale of his effects after his death, some of his drawings realised enormous prices.<ref name=Long />

[[File:Cimetière du Père Lachaise tombe d'Anne Louis Girodet Trioson.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Tomb at Père Lachaise]]

==Posthumously published work== [[Image:Girodet Roman Louvre CC182.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of the painter (1827) by Jean-Baptiste Roman, Louvre]]

Girodet produced a vast quantity of illustrations, amongst which may be cited those for the Didot editions of the works of Virgil (1798) and Racine (1801–1805). Fifty-four of his designs for the works of the ancient Greek poet Anacreon were engraved by M.  Châtillon. Girodet used much of his time on literary composition. His poem ''Le Peintre'' (rather a string of commonplaces), together with poor imitations of classical poets, and essays on ''Le Génie'' and ''La Grâce'', were published posthumously in 1829, with a biographical notice by his friend Coupin de la Couperie. Delecluze, in his ''Louis David et son temps'', has also a brief life of Girodet.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=Long />

''Girodet: Romantic Rebel'' was the first retrospective in the United States devoted to the works of Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson; the exhibition was initiated by the Cleveland Museum of Art and organised by the Musée du Louvre and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, in cooperation with the Musée Girodet, Montargis. The exhibition assembled more than 100 seminal works (about 60 paintings and 40 drawings) that demonstrated the artist's range as a painter as well as a draftsman. The exhibit was shown at the Art Institute of Chicago<ref>{{cite web |title=Girodet: Romantic Rebel |url=http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/girodet/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060723185234/http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/girodet/ |archive-date=23 July 2006 |access-date=2006-07-19 |work=Art Institute of Chicago}}</ref> (11 February–30 April 2006), Musée du Louvre (22 September 2005–2 January 2006), the Metropolitan Museum of Art<ref>{{Cite web |title=Girodet |url=https://localhost:5000/exhibitions/listings/2006/girodet |access-date=2025-08-24 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> (24 May–27 August 2006) and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (12 October 2006–21 January 2007).

==Analysis of the works== Girodet was trained in the neoclassical style of his teacher, Jacques-Louis David, seen in his treatment of the male nude body and his reference to models from the Renaissance and Classical antiquity. However, he also deviated from this style in several ways. The peculiarities which mark Girodet's position as the herald of the romantic movement are already evident in his ''Sleep of Endymion'' (1791, also called ''Effet de lune'' or "effect of the Moon").<ref name="EB1911"/> Although the subject matter and pose are inspired by classical precedents, Girodet's diffuse lighting is more theatrical and atmospheric. The androgynous depiction of the sleeping shepherd Endymion is also noteworthy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smalls |first1=James |title=Making Trouble for Art History: The Queer Case of Girodet |journal=Art Journal |date=1996 |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=20–27 |doi=10.2307/777650 |jstor=777650 }}</ref> These early romantic effects were even more notable in his ''Ossian'', exhibited in 1802. Girodet portrayed recently killed Napoleonic soldiers being welcomed into Valhalla by the fictional bard Ossian. The painting is striking for its inclusion of phosphorescent meteors, vaporous luminosity, and spectral protagonists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Rourke |first1=Stephanie |title=Girodet's Galvanised Bodies |journal=Art History |date=2018 |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=868–893 |doi=10.1111/1467-8365.12401 |hdl=10023/21061 |s2cid=192721947 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

The same coupling of classic and romantic elements marks Girodet's ''Danae'' (1799) and his ''Quatre Saisons,'' executed for the king of Spain (repeated for Compiègne), and shows itself to in his ''Fingal'' (Leuchtenberg collection, St. Petersburg), executed for Napoleon in 1802. Girodet can be seen here combining aspects of his classical training and traditional education with new literary trends, popular scientific spectacles, and a consummate interest in the strange and the bizarre. In this way his work announces the rise of a romantic aesthetic which prizes individuality, expression, and imagination over an adherence to classical academic precedents.

==Gallery== <gallery heights="160px" mode="packed"> File:Girodet Brutus 1785.jpg|''Brutus condemns his sons to death'' (''Brutus condamne ses fils à mort''), 1785 File:Jacques-Louis David - Oath of the Horatii - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Oath of the Horatii'' (''Le Serment des Horaces'', copy after David's original), 1786, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio File:Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson - Coriolanus Taking Leave of his Family - 2019.169.1 - National Gallery of Art.jpg|''Coriolanus Taking Leave of His Family'', 1786 File:Girodet La mort de Tatius.jpg|''The Death of Tatius'' (''La mort de Tatius''), 1788, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers File:Girodet Joseph reconnu par ses frères.JPG|''Joseph Recognised by His Brothers'', 1789, {{lang|fr|École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts|italic=no}}, Paris File:Hippocrate refusant les présents d'Artaxerxès (original).JPG|''Hippocrates Refusing the Gifts of Artaxerxes'', 1792, Museum of the History of Medicine File:Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson - Portrait d'une jeunesse.jpg|''Portrait of a Youth'' (''Portrait d'une jeunesse''), {{circa|1795}}, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts File:Longchamp081 Girodet Fravega.jpg|''Portrait of Giuseppe Fravega'' (''ministre'' of the Ligurian Republic in Paris), 1796, Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille File:Benoît Agnès Trioson by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, 1797.jpg|''Benoît-Agnès Trioson regardant des figures dans un livre'', 1797, Musée Girodet, Montargis File:Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson - Portrait of J. B. Belley, Deputy for Saint-Domingue - WGA09508.jpg|''Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley'', 1797, Palace of Versailles Image:Girodet-Trioson - Mademoiselle Lange as Venus, 1798.jpg|Danaé,1798, {{lang|de|Museum der bildenden Künste|italic=no}}, Leipzig File:Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson - Portrait of Mlle. Lange as Danae - 69.22 - Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg|''Portrait of Mlle. Lange as Danae'', 1799, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota Image:The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione.jpg|''The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione'', {{circa|1800}} File:Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson - Benoît-Agnes Trioson - WGA09505.jpg|''Benoît-Agnes Trioson'', 1800, Louvre, Paris Image:Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson 001.jpg|''Ossian receiving the Ghosts of the French Heroes'', {{circa|1801}}, Château de Malmaison File:Anne Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson - Portrait de Napoleon I (Versailles).jpg|''Napoleon Bonaparte, Premier Consul'', Palais de l'Elysée Image:Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson 005.jpg|''Portrait of Dominique-Jean Larrey'' (military surgeon in Napoleon's army), 1804, Louvre File:Portrait of the Katchef Dahouth, Christian Mameluke, 1804, by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Art Institute of Chicago - DSC09533.JPG|''Portrait of the Katchef Dahouth, Christian Mameluke'', 1804, Art Institute of Chicago Image:Carlo Maria Bonaparte.jpg|''Charles Marie Bonaparte''<br>(father of Napoléon Bonaparte), 1806 File:Study for "Portrait of an Indian" MET DP135221.jpg|Study for ''Portrait of an Indian'', {{circa|1807}}, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York File:Madame Erneste Bioche de Misery by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson.jpg|''Madame Erneste Bioche de Misery'', 1807, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa File:Napoleon en de sleutels van wenen.jpg|''Napoleon Receiving the Keys of Vienna'', 1808 Image:Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson 006.jpg|''Portrait of Chateaubriand'', 1809, {{interlanguage link|Musée d'Histoire de la Ville et du Pays Malouin|fr}}, Saint-Malo File:Hortense de Beauharnais.jpg|''Portrait of Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, wife of King Louis Napoleon'', {{circa|1809}}, {{lang|nl|Rijksmuseum|italic=no}}, Amsterdam File:Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson - Esquisse pour ‚La révolte du Caire‘ (ca. 1809).jpg|Sketch for ''The Revolt of Cairo'', {{circa|1809}}, Cleveland Museum of Art File:Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson - La révolte du Caire (ca. 1810).jpg|''The Revolt of Cairo'', oil and Indian ink on paper, {{circa|1810}}, Art Institute of Chicago Image:Girodet .jpg|''The Revolt of Cairo'', 1810 File:Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson - Portrait de Louis-Charles Balzac (1811).jpg|''Portrait of Charles-Louis Balzac'', 1811, Dallas Museum of Art File:Napoleon I (by Anne Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson).jpg|''Napoleon I in Coronation Robes'' (''Napoléon en costume impérial''), {{circa|1812}}, Bowes Museum, England File:Anne-Louis Girodet - Portrait de Prosper de Barante.jpg|''Portrait of Prosper de Barante'', 1814, Musée d'art Roger-Quilliot, Clermont-Ferrand File:Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Allegory of Victory, 1814.jpg|''Allegory of Victory'', {{circa|1815}}, Château de Compiègne File:Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Aurora, 1814-15.jpg|''Aurora'', {{circa|1815}}, Château de Compiègne File:Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson - Minerva between Apollo and Mercury, 1814-15.jpg|''Minerva between Apollo and Mercury'', {{circa|1815}}, Château de Compiègne Image:Cathelineau.jpg|''Jacques Cathelineau, généralissime vendéen'', 1816, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Cholet File:Bonchamps.jpg|''Charles-Melchior Arthus, Marquis de Bonchamps'', 1816, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Cholet Image:0 Pygmalion et Galatée - A-L. Girodet - RF 2002-4 - Louvre 2.JPG|''Pygmalion et Galatée'', 1819, {{lang|fr|Château de Dampierre|italic=no}} File:Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson - Tête d'une femme dans un turban.jpg|''Head of a Woman in a Turban'', {{circa|1820}}, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg File:Girodet Madame Reiset.jpg|''Portrait de Madame Reizet assise'', 1820 Madame Jacques-Louis-Étienne Reizet (Colette-Désirée-Thérèse Godefroy, 1782–1850) MET DP135222.jpg|''Portrait of Madame Reiset'', 1823, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Jacques-Joseph de Cathelineau.jpg|''Portrait of Jacques-Joseph de Cathelineau (1787–1832)'', son of the ''généralissime'' File:Capaneus – Study called The Blasphemic (Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson) - Nationalmuseum - 183684.tif|''Capaneus, Leader of The Seven against Thebes'' (''Tête du Blasphémateur''), study for ''Les sept chefs devant Thèbes'', Nationalmuseum, Stockholm File:François-René de Chateaubriand by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy Trioson.jpg|Undated portrait of François-René de Chateaubriand File:Girodet - Docteur Trioson montargis.jpg|''Portrait du Docteur Trioson donnant une leçon de géographie à son fils'', undated, Musée Girodet, Montargis File:Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson - Portrait of Joachim Murat - WGA09511.jpg|''Portrait of Joachim Murat'' (?), Hermitage Museum </gallery>

==See also== * List of Orientalist artists

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book | title=French painting 1774-1830: the Age of Revolution | location=New York; Detroit | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Detroit Institute of Arts | year=1975 | url=http://cdm16028.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/201214}} (see index)

==External links== {{commons category|Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson}} * {{Art UK bio}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20030622203351/http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=646 Miscellaneous works] (Art Renewal Center) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050301232935/http://www.insecula.com/contact/A007114.html Three portraits by Girodet] (''Insecula'' encyclopaedia) * [http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?s=ou&m=a&aid=4525 Works of Girodet at http://www.the-athenaeum.org]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, Anne-Louis}} Category:1767 births Category:1824 deaths Category:People from Montargis Category:18th-century French painters Category:19th-century French painters Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:French male painters Category:French romantic painters Category:Prix de Rome for painting Category:Pupils of Jacques-Louis David Category:French Orientalist painters Category:19th-century French male artists Category:18th-century French male artists