Lines and Colors art blog

Merry-Joseph Blondel

Merry-Joseph Blondel, French Neoclassical painter
Merry-Joseph Blondel was a French Neoclassical painter active in the early part of the 19th century.

He studied with the well known painter Jean-Baptiste Regnault, and from fairly early in his career formed a lasting friendship with Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

Blondel had a tremendously successful career, garnering numerous awards and prestigious commissions, including major works for the Palace of Versailles, the palace of Fontainebleau, the Louvre Museum and the Luxembourg Palace.

His refined, exacting style varied from naturalistic to classicaly styled.

Among reproductions of his works on Wikimedia Commons, you will find a number of greyscale images (images above, second and third from bottom). These are of large scale (6 foot high [190 cm] or larger) commercially hand-printed “wallpapers” produced by Dafour, Paris, and designed by Blondel and Louis Lafitte. The figures in these have a fascinatingly sculptural quality to them. (More info on Sotheby’s, and here.)


Comments

One response to “Merry-Joseph Blondel”

  1. The first two photos took my breath–bit by bit until the full image presented itself. The light is amazing. I had to figure out how it was done, so I looked and looked. Then I saw the unbelievable too dark area to the immediate left, where the lower part of the first figure’s dress should be. All that darkness broke the illusion, but I still like the richness of light.

    Thank you!