Salon of 1759

The Salon of 1759 held at the Louvre in Paris. Organised by the Académie Royale, it took place between 25 August and 25 September 1759.[1] Taking place during the Seven Years' War, it coincided with the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 which saw France suffer a series of defeats to Britain around the globe.
Claude-Joseph Vernet continued to exhibit his series of paintings Views of the Ports of France which had been commissioned by Louis XV. This time he submitted two landscapes of Bordeaux. In addition he displayed View of Avignon from the Right Bank of the Rhone, a depiction of his home city Avignon, which had been commissioned by Pierre-Gabriel Peilhon. The celebrated stage actress Mademoiselle Clairon was depicted by Charles-André van Loo in the role of Medea in Pierre Corneille's Médée. While a great success with the public, it received a more mixed critical reception.[2]
Jean-Marc Nattier displayed a Portrait of a Lady as a Vestal Virgin, a work which was praised by the art critic Denis Diderot who noted the ironic nature featuring an obviously a woman of the world.[3] Meanwhile Guillaume Voiriot displayed a portrait of Nattier, his diploma work on acceptance to the academy. Jean-Baptiste-Henri Deshays enjoyed great success with his religious painting The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew.[4]
Gallery
-

-
View of Part of the Port and the City of Bordeaux by Claude-Joseph Vernet -
Portrait of Guillaume Coustou the Younger by François-Hubert Drouais -
Portrait of Edmé Bouchardon by François-Hubert Drouais
-

-
The Marquis de Sourches and His Family by François-Hubert Drouais -
Portrait of Jean-Marc Nattier by Guillaume Voiriot -
Mademoiselle Clairon in Médée by Charles-André van Loo -
Portrait of a Lady as a Vestal Virgin by Jean-Marc Nattier -
A Ruined Temple by Pierre-Antoine Demachy -
Silence! by Jean-Baptiste Greuze -
Portrait of Ange Laurent Lalive de Jully by Jean-Baptiste Greuze
-
Simplicity by Jean-Baptiste Greuze -
Young Knitter Asleep by Jean-Baptiste Greuze -
Un fleuve by Jean-Jacques Caffieri -
Iphigénie by Michel-Ange Slodtz
See also
- Salon of 1761, the subsequent Salon held at the Louvre
References
Bibliography
- Baetjer, Katharine. French Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Early Eighteenth Century through the Revolution. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019.
- Bailey, Colin B. The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting. Yale University Press, 2003.
- Kromm, Jane. The Art of Frenzy: Public Madness in the Visual Culture of Europe, 1500-1850. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2003.
- Levey, Michael. Painting and Sculpture in France, 1700-1789. Yale University Press, 1993.
- Woodall, Joanna. Portraiture: Facing the Subject. Manchester University Press, 1996.