Baron Jean-Baptiste Regnault

Bio

Regnault was a child prodigy already noted for his drawing skills by the age of ten. As a boy he left with his parents for Canada and Louisiana where they spent five years, before returning to join Bardin’s studio at the School of Fine Arts. In 1775 he received the second prize of painting and, in the following year, the grand prize, which entitled him to three years study at the French Academy in Rome on a state scholarship. He was elected a probationary (agrée) member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1782 and, in 1783 at the age of twenty-nine, became a full member submitting as his entry The Education of Achilles. His success at the Salons led to a series of important state commissions including not only subjects from classical history but also portrayals of contemporary events such as the marriage of Napoleon’s brother Jerome and the Captured Austrian Banners being Delivered to the Senate.

Following the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1814-15 he resumed his career as an history painter and portraitist. His manner had always avoided the cold neo-classicism of Jacques-Louis David and, after the Restoration, with the regicide David in exile in Brussels, his rich and luminous colors and sensuous figures enjoyed great popularity both with private collectors and official patrons.