Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne - Buste de Jacques Gamelin - Alexandre Falguiere

Jacques Gamelin (October 3, 1738 – October 12, 1803) was an artist born in

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the son of a successful merchant. After receiving an education from the Jesuits, he went into the service of Nicolas Joseph de Marcassus, baron de Puymaurin (1718–1791), a wealthy industrialist of

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, in order to learn the ways of business. Puymaurin quickly saw that his young assistant had little talent or interest in business but showed great promise as an artist. Gamelin's father rejected Puymaurin's suggestion that Jacques be sent to an art academy, so the baron paid his way at the Académie royale de Toulouse himself. After five years study, Jacques Gamelin won the Académie's first prize and he went to Paris to continue his studies. Gamelin later went to Rome with Puymaurin's financial assistance to study under

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

and

Joseph-Marie Vien Joseph-Marie Vien (sometimes anglicised as Joseph-Mary Wien; 18 June 1716 – 27 March 1809) was a French painter. He was the last holder of the post of Premier peintre du Roi, serving from 1789 to 1791. Biography He was born in Montpellier ...

and eventually became a painter to

Pope Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV ( la, Clemens XIV; it, Clemente XIV; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in Sep ...

. On the death of his father, which left Jacques a wealthy man, he returned to Toulouse where he taught at the Académie. He is most known today for his paintings and engravings of battle scenes, which can be found in art museums throughout France. Jacques Gamelin died in Carcassonne on October 12, 1803. When Jacques Gamelin returned to France after his father's death, he undertook his great work, ''Nouveau recueil d'ostéologie et de myologie'', most likely funding its publication using some of his great inheritance. The work is known for its display of both talent and imagination, with striking scenes of the

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...

, the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

, and skeletons at play. Aside from the full-page copperplate illustrations by Gamelin and the engraver Lavalée, the work contains a number of intriguing vignettes on the title pages and elsewhere, which show battle scenes, visitations by death on unsuspecting revelers, and the anatomical artist's studio.

References

* ''Dictionnaire de biographie française.'' (Paris: Librairie Letouzey et ané, 1933-). Vol. XV, col. 309–310. * ''Morton's Medical Bibliography (Garrison and Morton).'' Ed. by Jeremy Norman. 5th ed. (Aldershot, Hants.: Scolar Press; Brookfield, Vt., USA : Gower Pub. Co., 1991). No. 401.1.

External links

Jacques Gamelin: ''Nouveau receuil d'ostéologie et de myologie dessiné après nature … pour l'utilité des sciences et des arts.'' (Toulouse, 1779)
Selected pages scanned from the original work. Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gamelin 1738 births 1803 deaths People from Carcassonne 18th-century French painters Court painters Pupils of Jacques-Louis David