Anne-François-Louis Janmot was a 19th century French painter who devoted his career to depictions of his deeply held Christian faith.
Janmot was also a poet. His most ambitious undertaking was a cycle of 18 paintings and 16 drawings, accompanied by verse, titled Poem of the Soul. You can see the 18 paintings arranged in order on Painterlog.
He studied at the Ecole des Beaus-Arts in Lyon, where he was born, and then at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in Ingres’ studio. You can see Ingres’ emphasis on precision and form defined by linear edges in Janmot’s figurative work.
His compositions took some of their formality from late Medieval works that he admired, and his sensibilities ranged from symbolism to the fluid poses and details of nature common to the Pre-Raphaelite painters.
