Claude Arnulphy also spelt Arnulphi, was a French painter, chiefly of portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

s, based at Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence

Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...

 in the south of France.

Early life

Arnulphy is claimed to have been born either at Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

 or at Lyons

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, but Aix is also a possibility. He was the son of Charles Arnulphy, a painter at 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...

, although originally from the County of Nice

County of Nice

The County of Nice or Niçard Country is a historical region of France, located in the south-eastern part, around the city of Nice.-History:Its territory lies between the Mediterranean Sea , Var River and the southernmost crest of the...

 in the Italian Duchy of Savoy

Duchy of Savoy

From 1416 to 1847, the House of Savoy ruled the eponymous Duchy of Savoy . The Duchy was a state in the northern part of the Italian Peninsula, with some territories that are now in France. It was a continuation of the County of Savoy...

, by his father's marriage to Madeleine Prongey, and he spent his childhood years in the French capital city. He first trained as a painter in his father's studio, then went to 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...

 to study under Benedetto Luti

Benedetto Luti

Benedetto Luti was an Italian painter.-Biography:Luti was born in Florence. He moved to Rome in 1691 where he was patronized by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, an enthusiast for the pastel portrait. Luti was one of the first artists to work in pastels as the final composition as...

 (1666–1724), becoming principally a portrait artist.

Career

Arnulphy established himself in the city of Aix in about 1722, where he enjoyed a long artistic career and where many of his works survive. He was the master of Jean-François Pierre Peyron

Jean-François Pierre Peyron

Jean-François Pierre Peyron, full name of Pierre Peyron was a French neoclassical painter.-Biography:In his native city of Aix he studied art under Claude Arnulphy...

, and Antoine Gibelin (1739–1813), another native of Aix, also began to study art under Arnulphy.

His work has been compared with that of Hyacinthe Rigaud

Hyacinthe Rigaud

Hyacinthe Rigaud was a French baroque painter of Catalan origin whose career was based in Paris.He is renowned for his portrait paintings of Louis XIV, the royalty and nobility of Europe, and members of their courts and considered one of the most notable French portraitists of the classical period...

 (1659–1743) and Nicolas de Largillière

Nicolas de Largillière

Nicolas de Largillière was a painter born in Paris, France.-Early life:Largillière's father, a merchant, took him to Antwerp at the age of three. As a boy, he spent nearly two years in London. Sometime after his return to Antwerp, a failed attempt at business led him to the studio of Goubeau...

 (1656–1746).

His portrait of Thomas Mathews

Thomas Mathews

Thomas Mathews was a British officer of the Royal Navy, who rose to the rank of admiral.Mathews joined the navy in 1690 and saw service on a number of ships, including during the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. He interspersed periods spent commanding ships with time at home...

 (pictured) is one of four surviving portraits he painted of officers of a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 fleet lying off Toulon

Toulon

Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

 between 1742 and 1744. Three of these are now in the National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

 at Greenwich

Greenwich

Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...

.

In February 1732, Arnulphy married Marguerite Aubaye, and they had ten children, of whom seven were sons. However, only one child, according to different sources a son named Joseph or François Arnulphy (died 1825) survived childhood.

In 1765, as the result of the Will of Honoré Armand de Villars, a new drawing school was established which became known as the École de dessin d'Aix-en-Provence, with the painter Charles Marcel Aune as its first principal and Arnulphy as his deputy. In 1785, Aune resigned the headship of the school to travel to North America, and Arnulphy took over from him. However, being by then aged no less than eighty-eight, he chose a successor in the shape of a much younger man, Jean-Antoine Constantin

Jean-Antoine Constantin

Jean-Antoine Constantin, , was a French painter.-Biography:Born in the vicinity of the Loubière, in Marseille, Jean-Antoine Constantin studied at the Academy of Painting in Marseille under the tutelage of Jean-Joseph Kappeler, David de Marseille, and Jean-Baptiste Giry...

.

Arnulphy also held a variety of public offices in Aix, including those of syndic

Syndic

Syndic , a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or powers.The meaning which underlies both applications is that of...

 and treasurer

Treasurer

A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...

. He died on 22 June 1786 and was buried the next day in the Récollets cemetery at Aix. Constantin duly succeeded him at the école de dessin.