Sunday, September 6, 2020

07 works, Today, September 6th, is Saint Clodoald's day, his story illustrated #249

Antoine-Jean Gros  (1771–1835) 
Clovis et Clotilde, c. 1811
Oil on canvas
Petit Palais, Paris, France

Antoine-Jean Baron Gros (born March 16, 1771, Paris, France—died June 26, 1835, Paris), was a French Romantic painter principally remembered for his historical pictures depicting significant events in the military career of Napoleon.

 

Gros received his first art training from his father, who was a painter of miniatures. In 1785 he entered the studio of his father’s friend Jacques-Louis David, whom he revered but whose cerebral Neoclassical style was uncongenial to Gros’s romantically passionate nature. As a student, he was more influenced by the energetic brushwork and colour of Peter Paul Rubens and the Venetians than the hard linearism of his contemporary Neoclassicists.

 

In 1793 Gros went to Italy, where he met Joséphine de Beauharnais and, through her, Napoleon. In 1796 he followed the French army to Arcole and was present when Napoleon planted the French flag on the bridge. This incident he immortalized in his first major work. Napoleon bestowed on him the rank of inspecteur aux revues. He accompanied Napoleon on his campaigns and also helped select works of art from Italy for the Louvre.

 

After the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbons (who gave Gros the title of baron); as the heir of Neoclassicism. He continued to paint large compositions—e.g., the ceiling of the Egyptian room of the Louvre. His best works after 1815 were portraits, some of which approached the quality of his Napoleonic pictures. He became increasingly dissatisfied with his accomplishments, and he committed suicide. More Antoine-Jean Baron Gros


Saint Clodoald, better known as Saint Cloud was born in 522 A.D. He was the grandson of Clovis, founder of the Kingdom of the Franks, and his wife Saint Clothilde. Following the death of his parents, Cloud and his two brothers were cared for by their grandmother, Saint Clothilde, the widowed queen. Upon his father’s death, Cloud’s uncles sought to seize his father’s throne by plotting the murder of Cloud and his two brothers. 

French School (19th century)
Murder of the children of Chlodomer, King of Orleans, c, 524
French educational card, late 19th/early 20th century
Chromolithograph
I have no further description, at this time

19th-century French art was made in France or by French citizens during the following political regimes: Napoleon Bonaparte's Consulate (1799-1804) and Empire (1804-1814), the Restoration under Louis XVIII and Charles X (1814-1830), the July Monarchy under Louis Philippe d'Orléans (1830-1848), the Second Republic (1848-1852), the Second Empire under Napoleon III (1852-1871), and the first decades of the Third Republic (1871-1940).

 

Many of the developments in French arts in this period parallel changes in literature. More on French School, 19th Century


They succeeded in killing his brothers, but Saint Cloud escaped and sought sanctuary with Saint Remigius, the Bishop of Rheims, located a short distance from Paris. 

Reynaud Levieux, (1625-90)
St. Remigius Cures the Blind Man, c. 17th century
Oil on canvas
Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

Reynaud Levieux first worked in his father's workshop, then went to Rome to perfect his knowledge. He becomes an appreciated painter. His paintings from this period are not all known. Under the direction of Nicolas Poussin , he was in charge of making copies of Italian masterpieces.

He returned to Nîmes in 1643, then moved to Montpellier in 1647. From that moment his career took off. From 1642 to 1658, he received several orders from Dom Louis de Lauzeray, prior of the charterhouse Notre-Dame-du-Val-de-Bénédiction. He will paint for the Church of the Charterhouse. 

Having appreciated the talent of Nicolas Mignard during his trip to Avignon in 1660, Louis XIV invited the artist to Paris in October 1660. The departure of this painter leaves the field open to Reynaud Levieux who then settles in Aix-en-Provence , from where he shines on the surrounding towns. More on Reynaud Levieux

And so, Cloud grew from childhood into young manhood under the guidance and protection of the holy bishop and his sainted grandmother.

Durupt Charles
Saint Cloud renouncing the throne
Oil on canvas
H = 450; a = 370
I have no further description, at this time

At the age of twenty, Saint Cloud left his hermitage, appeared before the Bishop of Paris surrounded by religious and civic leaders and members of the his royal family! He clothed himself in royal robes and carried a scissors in one hand and a coarse garment in the other. He offered the coarse garment to the bishop who clothed him with it as a symbol of his preferred “spiritual” rather than “material” riches. With the scissors, the bishop cut Cloud’s long hair, which was a symbol of his royalty. In the silence and solitude of his hermitage, Cloud had established priorities in his life. 

Unknown artist
St. Cloud heals the sick
Church St. Clodoald. Saint-Cloud
I have no further description, at this time

After Saint Severin the hermit died, Cloud left the neighborhood of Paris to find solitude deeper in the forest. God sent people out to find him in the forest. They came by the hundreds because they learned that Cloud had the gift of healing the bodies and souls of the afflicted. His was a ministry of healing and reconciliation.

Cloud lived eleven years as a hermit. During those years, he spent time poring over the Scriptures. These were not idle years for the prince who had fled the royal court for a life devoted to Christ! For this reason artists throughout the centuries have portrayed Cloud holding a bible.

Domenico Tintoretto
Cloud was ordained a priest for the Church of Paris
THE ORDINATION OF A PRIEST
Oil on canvas
73 x 83 cm
Private collection

Domenico Tintoretto (Domenico Robusti), about 1560 - 1635. Like many family-trained artists, Domenico Tintoretto began his career by helping his renowned father, Jacopo Tintoretto, in his Venice workshop. In 1576, when Domenico was seventeen years old, he was admitted to the Venetian painters' guild. One of his first assignments outside the workshop included assisting his father with a commission to execute paintings in the Doge's Palace. Domenico then received independent commissions at the palace, creating heroic scenes such as the Second Conquest of Constantinople. In addition to history painting, Domenico painted portraits and mythological and religious subjects. Throughout his mature years, he collaborated occasionally with his father; however, Domenico was sought after for his own talent. In 1592 he was summoned to Ferrara to paint a portrait of Margaret of Austria. Three years later he traveled to Mantua, commissioned by a member of the Gonzaga family to execute a portrait. Though the influence of his father, and at times even his father's assistants, is evident in many of Domenico's paintings, his drawings are entirely original. More on Domenico Tintoretto


In 551 A.D. Cloud was ordained a priest for the Church of Paris. He became pastor of a small village consisting of poor men and women who fished in the river, and farm families in a small village near Paris. Today, the village (now a suburb of Paris) is called Saint Cloud.

In the village, Saint Cloud used his gifts of healing, counseling, preaching and celebrating the Eucharist in ministry to the people. As time passed, the uncles of Saint Cloud repented of their sin and reconciled themselves with their nephew. They, in turn, restored many castles, estates and lands to Cloud. As a hermit, he sold some of these properties and distributed his wealth to the poor. He received permission from the Bishop Eusebius to use a small portion of that wealth to build a church with his own hands, and he dedicated it to Saint Martin of Tours.

Unknown artist
Saint Cloud, (Saint Clodoald) the Patron Saint of the Diocese of Saint Cloud (522 – c. 560)
I have no further description, at this time

Cloud radiated that deep joy of a Christian heart in love with God. Others recognized this in Cloud and came to live near him. In time, he became a leader and teacher of those who joined him. They formed a religious community, not like a convent or monastery, but an association of persons dedicating themselves to love of God and service to God’s people. The last seven years of his life, Saint Cloud lived in this community attached to the Church of Saint Martin of Tours. Surrounded by the community, he died serenely on September 7, 560 A.D., at age 38. More on Saint Cloud




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