Janmot, Louis |
| PAINTER, POET (FRANCE) |
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BORN 21 May 1814, Lyon - DIED 1 Jun 1892, Lyon BIRTH NAME Janmot, Anne-François-Louis GRAVE LOCATION Lyon: Cimetière de Loyasse, 43, rue du Cardinal-Gerlier (allée 11, a droit) |
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Louis Janmot was the son of deeply religious Catholic parents. The death of his brother in 182 and of his sisters in 1829 affected him strongly. At the Royal College of Lyon he was taught by Abbe Noirot. In 1831 he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, where he won the Golden Laurel in 1832. In 1833 he moved to Paris to study with Victor Orsel at the Parisian École des Beaux-Arts. He was also a student in the studio's of Ingres in Rome and Paris. He admired the works of Shakespeare and Dante. His work as a painter is in between romanticism and symbolism. His painting "Fleur des Champs" (1845, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon) attracted the attention of Charles Baudelaire and gained him access to the Salon of 1846. He received many commissions for church decorations and his works reminds of the Nazarenes and the Pre-Raphaelites. In 1855 his "Poème de l'âme" was shown at the U niversal Exhibition but to his disappointed it wasn't received well. It is now at the Musée des Beaux-arts in Lyon. In December 185 he married Leonie Saint-Paulet from Carpentras. He was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon but in 1861 he moved to Paris where he was promised work at the Church of St. Augustine. But the project failed and he was forced to accept a position at the Dominican School of Arcueil. He lived in Bagneux where his wife died after their seventh child was born in 1870. After the German troops occupied his home he travelled to Algiers with his stepfather and there he produced landscapes. He returned to Paris the next year. Financial problems and family matters made him decide to move to Toulon in 1878. He received several commissions led a retired life. During his life he was obsessively afraid that he wouldn't be able to finish his series of "Poème" paintings before he would die. He did finish the cycle of 18 paintings and 16 drawings, but it took him forty years. In 1885 he married his former student Antoinette Currat and he returned to Lyon with her. There he made charcoal drawings depicting the underworld, among them "Le Purgatoire" (1885) et "La Fin des Temps" (1888). He died in 1892 in Lyon. Related persons • admired Dante Alighieri • was admired by Denis, Maurice • was pupil of Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique • was admired by Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre • admired Shakespeare, William |
| Images | ||
 The grave of Louis Janmot at the Loyasse Cimetière, Lyon. Picture by Androom (03 Dec 2007) |
 "Le Poème de l'âme": Rayons de soleil" (detail). (Lyon: Musée des Beaux-Arts) |
 "Fleur des champs" (detail). (1845, Lyon: Musée des Beaux-Arts) |
