Paul Delaroche Biography | Oil Painting Reproductions

Paul Delaroche applied the same treatment to Christian and historical characters, and even to various figures of his own day such as Napoleon in his Academic paintings. His subjects were painted in a firm, smooth way, which gave an appearance of the high finish, the straightforward technique and dramatic compositions, became very popular.

Paul Delaroche's work now and then contained historical inaccuracies. In Cromwell And The Corpse Of Charles I, Cromwell lifting the coffin-lid and looking at the Body of Charles is based on an urban legend, and The Execution of Lady Jane Grey is represented as taking place in a prison dungeon, which is very inaccurate. He tended to think more about sensational impact than recorded truth, called 'artistic license'

Delaroche's love for Horace Vernet's daughter Louise was the absorbing passion of his life. He wedded Louise in 1835 when she was twenty-one, that same year he exhibited the painting Head of an Angel, which was based on her. Ten years later at the age of thirty-one, she died, and Delaroche never recovered from the shock.

In 1837 Paul Delaroche received the commission for a colossal 88.5 foot long mural (shown in part) of Hémicycle at the École des Beaux-Arts, a Raphael inspired scene from The School of Athens. The painting represents seventy-five great artists of all ages.

The painting is not fresco but done on the wall in oil. Paul Delaroche finished the work in 1841, but it was damaged by a fire in 1855. He set about trying to repaint and restore the work, but died in a years time, before he had accomplished much, the completed restoration was done by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury. Paul Delaroche never left Paris, he was born there, lived there, and died there.

Art Movement: Academic.
Artists Influencing Delaroche: Antoine-Jean, Baron Gros, Francisque Millet.
He Traveled To Italy.
Painters Paul Delaroche Influenced: Henry Mark Anthony, Edward Armitage, Charles Lucy, Thomas Couture, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Alfred Boisseau, Jean-Francois Millet.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.