JEAN-THOMAS THIBAULT (1757-1826)

A NEOCLASSICAL LANDSCAPE
Signed & dated l.m. 1814
Pen & black ink with brown washes
40 x 55 cm
 
EXHIBITED
Paris, Jane Roberts Fine Art, Works on Paper, Paintings and Photographs 1800-2000, March - April 2018, cat. no. 1
 
 
 
 
Jean-Thomas Thibault studied architecture and drawing with Etienne-Louis Boullée from 1780 to 1786 and later with Pierre Hadrien Paris. He then travelled to Rome under his own steam and lived there for four years. He was befriended by Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine with whom he worked on scenery for operas such as Elisca ou l'amour maternel (Opéra Comique in 1799), Sémiramis (Paris opera n 1802) and lastly, Paul et Virginie (Paris Opera in1806). As an architect, he worked on the château of Saint-Leu for Louis-Bonaparte, then with his friend Barthélémy Vignon on the château de Malmaison for the Empress Joséphine and, lastly, on the Élysées Palace for Joachim Murat and his wife Caroline. 
 
From 1819, Thibault was appointed professor of perspective at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he succeeded Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, and published several treatises on the subject. Louis Léopold Boilly painted Thibault's portrait circa 1800 which is at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille (inv. P371).