Couture Thomas

Son of a cobbler from Senlis, Couture entered the studio of Gros (1771-1835) in 1830, before becoming a pupil of David (1748-1825), and then Delaroche (1797-1856). Having taken second place in the Rome Prize of 1837, he made his debut at the Salon of 1840 with Young Venetian After an Orgy and gained his first success with The Love of Gold in 1845. But it was really Romans in the Period of Decadence (Musée d'Orsay) that made him famous; bought immediately by the state, this huge composition depicts a classical orgy, as well as an allegory of Louis-Philippe’s corrupt government. The picture created a sensation at the 1847 Salon and won Couture a first class medal as well as the Legion of Honor. It clearly conveys Couture’s ambition to regenerate French painting through reference to the ''great art of Greek Antiquity, the Renaissance masters and the admirable Flemish school''. Following this success, Couture was awarded a commission, never completed, for the hall of the National Assembly and he began to decorate the Chapel of the Virgin in the Church of St. Eustache in Paris.

Napoleon III, recognizing his talent, awarded him commissions for large canvases marking important events in his reign, including The Baptism of the Imperial Prince. And yet Couture never became the great history painter of the imperial reign. The brilliant eclecticism that Couture achieved through marrying realism with classicism soon resulted in a creative impasse.
He opened a studio in 1847, where he received Millet, Puvis de Chavannes and Manet for six years, as well as a good number of foreign artists whom he encouraged to paint in the open air and to use pure colors. This enabled him to develop a form of teaching that was unlike Academicism in terms of its simplicity, the use of pure color and rapidly executed drawings, done on the spot. His sketches (The Madman) and portraits (George Sand, Michelet) from the end of his life reveal more clearly than his huge compositions his talent as a draftsman and colorist. This was also highlighted in exhibitions of his work in 1880 and 1900. Couture was a notable man of letters, but his biting and sarcastic humor made him numerous enemies in his day.

1815: born in Senlis
1837: Rome Prize, second place 
1840: Salon début with Young Venetian after an Orgy
1841: The Prodigal Son     
1845: The Love of Gold
1847: triumph at the Salon with Romans in the Period of Decadence, opens his own studio, starts decorating the chapel of Saint-Eustache church
1848: receives commission for the Assemblée Nationale Voluntary Enlistments in 1792 never finished
1852: The Gypsies
1855: Page with Falcon, leaves Paris and stays in Villiers-le-Bel until his death
1879: dies at Villiers-le-Bel

Self-Portrait, Thomas Couture