JEAN

See also:

• BAPTISTE

BAPTISTE

See also:

• JEAN BAPTISTE ISABEY (1767–1855)

ISABEY (1767–1855)  , French painter, was born at Nancy on the 11th of April 1767 . At nineteen, after some lessons from Dumont, miniature painter to Marie Antoinette, he became a pupil of David . Employed at Versailles on portraits of the dukes of Angoulemme and Berry, he was given a commission by the queen , which opens the long list of those which he received, up to the date of his death in 1855, from the successive rulers of France . Patronized by Josephine and Napoleon, he arranged the ceremonies of their coronation and prepared drawings for the publication intended as its official commemoration, a work for which he was paid by Louis XVIII., whose portrait (en-graved, Debucourt) he executed in 1814: Although Isabey did homage to Napoleon on his return from Elba, he continued to enjoy the favour of the Restoration, and took part in arrangements for the coronation of Charles X . The monarchy of July conferred on him an important post in connexion with the royalcollections, and Napoleon III. granted him a pension, and the cross of commander of the Legion of Honour . " Review of Troops by the First Consul " was one of his most important compositions, and " Isabey's Boat,"—a charming drawing of himself and family--produced at a time when he was much occupied with lithography—had an immense success at the Salon of 182o (engraved, Landon, Annales, i . 125) . His portrait of " Napoleon at Malmaison " is held to be the best ever executed, and even his tiny head of the king of Rome, painted for a breast-pin, is distinguished by a decision and breadth which evidence the hand of a master . A biography of Isabey was published by M . E . Taigny in 1859, and M . C .

Lenormant's article, written for Michaud's Biog. univ., is founded on facts furnished by Isabey's family .