Pierre Bonirote (lyon, 1811 - Orliénas, 1891), Animated Landscape (1876)

This artist, who practiced all genres and left behind an important production, must be cited among landscape painters for his numerous views of Italy and Greece, and deserves a place of choice in the orientalist school. A student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon in the Révoil class, he won the Painting Prize in 1832. During his stay in Rome in 1836, he traveled throughout the peninsula and accumulated sketches. He then met Ingres, Flandrin and especially the Duchess of Plaisance who charged him in 1840 with founding a painting school in Athens which he would direct for three years. As in Italy, he multiplied studies on the motif, in sepia or watercolor: landscapes, monuments and local types. He is interested in archaeological updates which he evokes in charming canvases animated by a picturesque and colorful population and which also make his art a valuable documentary source for the knowledge of classical architecture and the state of its conservation at the time. He paints in a beautiful, creamy way, working with his ochres and whites, which he highlights with the colors of a rich palette (especially for the clothes). With a few warm and luminous touches, he knows how to define his composition. His painting is close to that of Chassériau. We also owe him landscapes of Lyonnais. He exhibited at the Lyon Salon from 1833 to 1892 and at the Paris Salon from 1842 to 1870.