FRANÇOIS PASCAL SIMON, BARON GÉRARD (1770-1837)

THREE LANDSCAPE STUDIES, 
A Couple Embracing (verso of 3rd drawing)
Two signed with the artist's monogram
Black chalk with brown & grey wash
15.5 x 20.5 cm | 18.5 x 23.7 cm | 16.3 x 22 cm
 
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, France
 
 
 
 
The present ptrioir come originally from a collection which included two closely comparable drawings of Italian subjects, and may therefore date from his time in the country between 1791-1793. 
 
 
François Gérard spent most of his childhood in Rome, where his father served in the household of the French Ambassador to the Papal States. He returned with his family to Paris in 1780, entering the studio of the sculptor Augustin Pajou. From Pajou he went to the history painter Nicolas-Guy Brenet, before finally studying under Jacques-Louis David. Gérard won the second prize in the Prix de Rome in 1789, and opted not to enter the competition again, travelling under his own auspices to Italy and staying there from 1791-1793. Upon his return, Gérard managed to avoid conscription (apparently thanks to his connection to David, who was celebrated by the new regime), but won a competition for a painting of the events of the 10th August 1792 - a defining moment of the French Revolution - and was given both lodgings and a studio in the Louvre for his work. Around this time, Gérard produced a series of designs for book illustrations to La Fontaine, Racine and Voltaire, commissioned by the publisher Pierre Dido. 
 
Gérard began to make his name as a painter of mythological and historical subjects, with a depiction of Belisarius shown at the Salon in 1795 and Cupid and Pysche in 1798, both of which won him considerable praise from the critics. The young artist had also established himself as a popular portraitist, again partly thanks to his contribution to the Salon, specifically his full-length portrait of Jean-Baptiste Isabey and his daughter which was exhibited in 1796. By the beginning of the 19th century, Gérard had become the most fashionable portrait painter in France, competing with his former master David for commissions from the newly-minted ministers and elites of the Republic, including Murat, Talleyrand and Michel Ney.
 
Foremost among Gérards clients was of course Napoleon, his family and the members of his court, though Gérard could also count numerous other European dignitaries among his clientele, as well as a number of his artist friends and peers. He continued to paint popular, large-scale history subjects throughout his career, including Ossian for Malmaison (1801), and a number of French subjects which are now at Versailles. He was remarkably adept at maintaining his standing in a politically turbulent France, and his success in this regard culminated in his being enobled as a Baron in 1819.