Étienne Azambre (2 February 1859,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

-21 June 1933, Paris) was a French painter, best known for his religious and

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

scenes, done in a subdued manner.

Life & work

His father was a lawyer. After attending the

Collège Stanislas de Paris The Collège Stanislas de Paris (), colloquially known as Stan, is a private Catholic school in Paris, situated on " Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the 6th arrondissement. It has more than 3,000 students, from preschool to '' classes préparatoir ...

, he decided to become an artist. From 1879 to 1882, he was enrolled at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

, then attended the

École Nationale des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

until 1885, where he studied with

William Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

and

Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...

. During his military duty in

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Lucien Simon Lucien Joseph Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. Early life and education Simon was born in Paris. After graduating from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he studied painting at the studio of Jules Didier, then from ...

and Georges Desvallières. Between 1883 and 1904, he exhibited regularly at the

Salon des Artistes français The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

In 1889, he participated in the annual exhibition held by the Friends of Art of the Département of

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () is a former department of France, which encompassed the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. Its prefecture was Versailles and its administrative number was 78. Seine-et-Oise was disbanded in ...

, which was held at the

Château de Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines Department of Île-de-France region in France. The palace is owned by the government of F ...

. In 1893, he had a showing at the . His religious works could also be seen at several artistic exhibitions organized by the

Rosicrucians Rosicrucianism () is a spirituality, spiritual and cultural movement that arose in early modern Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new Western esotericism, esoteric order. Rosicruc ...

. Their largest was held in 1893, at the , which was demolished in 1988. Many of his works were reproduced as illustrations in magazines such as '' Le Monde Illustré'', ''La Famille'' and ''La France Illustrée''. In 1895, he was one of the artists chosen to decorate the Church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine of

Équennes-Éramecourt Équennes-Éramecourt (; Picard: ''Étcheinne-Érinmecourt'') is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Formed from the administrative merger of the two villages of Équennes and Éramecourt in 1973, ...

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

. He created

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es that adorn the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

, representing the

Coronation of the Virgin A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special ...

in the presence of a large assembly of angels. Later, he became a member of the , where he participated in their exhibitions, held the office of Vice-President for a short time and contributed numerous articles to their magazine, ''Notes d'Art et d'Archéologie''. This helped him establish a relationship with the publisher, , which specialized in religious items. He eventually provided hundreds of pious images, many for postcards, reproduced by

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

rotogravure Rotogravure (or gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process, which involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it u ...

and

chromolithography Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour printmaking, prints in lithography, and in theory includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. However, in modern usage it is normally restricted to 19th-century works, and ...

. He focused entirely on scenes from the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. Between 1916 and 1919, he devoted himself almost exclusively to producing four large frescoes, representing the Nativity and the Assumption, at the in

Yonne Yonne (, in Burgundian: ''Ghienne'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight con ...

, a village near his family estate. Following his death, in 1933, he was interred in a nearby cemetery.

References

External links

More works by Azambre
@ ArtNet
"Étienne Azambre, le peintre des Anges"
a website by Franz Torres-Quevedo {{DEFAULTSORT:Azambre, Etienne 1859 births 1933 deaths 19th-century French painters Religious painters French genre painters Painters from Paris 20th-century French painters

Life & work

References

Further reading

External links