Florent-Fidèle-Constant BOURGEOIS
(Guiscard 1767 - Passy 1841)
Three Italian Views:
a. The Courtyard of a Monastery
b. A Palazzo in the Roman Campagna
c. The Vaults of the Palazzo Comunale in Anagni
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Pen and brown ink and brown wash, over an underdrawing in black chalk.
a.102 x 141 mm. (4 x 5 1/2 in.)
b.101 x 147 mm. (4 x 5 3/4 in.)
c. 102 x 141 mm. (4 x 5 1/2 in.)
a.102 x 141 mm. (4 x 5 1/2 in.)
b.101 x 147 mm. (4 x 5 3/4 in.)
c. 102 x 141 mm. (4 x 5 1/2 in.)
A pupil of Jacques-Louis David, Florent Constant Bourgeois (also known as Bourgeois du Castelet) was a landscape painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He spent much of his career in Italy, from which he sent numerous drawings of picturesque Italian views that were shown at the Salons between 1791 and 1831. Bourgeois’s highly finished drawings, which included landscapes in France and Switzerland as well as Italy, were popular with collectors in France, as well as in Germany and Russia. He received a number of public commissions, including work for the Grand Trianon at Versailles and the château of Fontainebleau, and also painted large panoramic views of Paris and Toulon. In 1804 a series of engravings after Italian views by Bourgeois were published as the Receuil de vues et fabriques pittoresques d’Italie. He was also commissioned by Dominique-Vivant Denon to produce a series of drawings recording the military campaigns of Napoleon; these are now in the Louvre, which houses over a hundred drawings by the artist.
Provenance
Prince Poniatowski.