Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin (March 25, 1783 – January 19, 1855), French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, was born at 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....

, of poor parents.

As a young man, he learned his father's trade of locksmithing, whilst at the same time he followed the classes of the free school of art. Having sold some copies to a local amateur, Guérin started for 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...

, where he came under the notice of Vincent, whose counsels were of material service.

In 1810 Guérin made his first appearance at the Salon

Paris Salon

The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...

 with some portraits, which had a certain success. In 1812 he exhibited "Cain after the murder of Abel" (formerly in Luxembourg), and, on the return of the Bourbons

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

, was much employed in works of restoration and decoration at Versailles

Versailles

Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...

.

His "Dead Christ" (Cathedral, Baltimore) obtained a medal in 1817, and this success was followed up by a long series of works, of which the following are the more noteworthy:

• "Christ on the knees of the Virgin" (1819)
• "Anchises and Venus" (1822) (formerly in Luxembourg)
• "Ulysses and Minerva" (1824) (Musée de Rennes)
• the "Holy Family" (1829) (Cathedral, Toulon)
• "Saint Catherine" (1838)(St Roch)

In his treatment of subject, Guérin attempted to realize rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 graces of conception, the liveliness of which was lost in the strenuous effort to be correct. His chief successes were attained by portiaits, and those of Charles Nodier

Charles Nodier

Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier , was a French author who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the conte fantastique, gothic literature, vampire tales, and the importance of dreams as part of literary creation, and whose career as a librarian is often underestimated by literary...

 and the Abbé Lamennais

Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais

Hugues-Félicité Robert de Lamennais , was a French priest, and philosophical and political writer.-Youth:Félicité de Lamennais was born at Saint-Malo on June 19, 1782, the son of a wealthy merchant...

became widely popular.
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