Jérôme Preudhomme (attributed To) - The Vestals

erome PREUDHOMME (Attributed to) Arras, v1735 - Paris, 1810 Oil on canvas 47.5 x 55 cm (59 x 67 cm with the frame)  Beautiful old carved wooden frame It This is a decorative panel undoubtedly intended for a private mansion where it was to fit into a woodwork. If the theme is classic - vestals who maintain the sacred fire, the taste for the decorative vegetation around, the colors and the taste for movement and arabesques recall that Jérôme Preudhomme belongs to the era of rock art in the middle from the 18th century. The painter Jérôme Preudhomme is often confused with Paul Prudhon, almost contemporary but whose style is very different. The art of Preudhomme is however recognizable by its range of very clear colors where we always recognize the same yellow, pink, blue and green. It still belongs to the 18th century. Originally from Arras, Jérôme Preudhomme arrived in Paris in 1761. He was received in 1773 as a “master painter by experience” at the Académie de Saint-Luc in Paris and exhibited there in 1774. Appointed professor in Paris, he was then appointed in 1784 professor of the Saint-Quentin drawing school founded in 1782 by Maurice Quentin-Latour. Painter of history, Preudhomme was also a painter of genre and landscapes. Moreover, often dated rather late, these paintings were undoubtedly executed when religious orders diminished after the Revolution. For example, the Fantasy Landscape which was on sale at Christie's London in 2013 is dated 1800.