Augustin Pierre Bienvenu Chenu, also known as Fleury Chenu (12 May 1833,

Briançon Briançon (, ) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an a ...

- 9 May 1875,

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

) was a French painter; known for his local landscapes and hunting scenes.

Biography

His father was a master tailor who worked for the Sixth . He spent most of his childhood in Briançon, where the beauty of the local countryside inspired him to make landscape drawings. In 1846, his family moved to Lyon and he entered 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 ...

, where he studied design and painting with

Michel Philibert Genod Michel Philibert Genod (20 September 1795, Lyon - 24 July 1862, Lyon) was a French genre and history painter in the Troubador style. Biography He was born while Lyon was still recovering from the effects of the Siege. He studied with Pierre R ...

and Claude Bonnefond.Biographical notes
@ The Androom Archives. His career began poorly and financial difficulties forced him to take work painting the ceiling at the local casino. Beginning in 1854, he participated in the local salons and attracted positive attention there, but failed to acquire a clientele outside of Lyon. He finally gained some nationwide attention with his showing at the

International Exposition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

of Paris in 1867; notably with his tableau depicting the

Carthusians The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called the ...

in Lyon. His fame was established by a series of

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 of life in Lyon; two of which were acquired by the government and put on display at the

Musée du Luxembourg The () is a museum at 19 in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Established in 1750, it was initially an art museum located in the east wing of the Luxembourg Palace (the matching west wing housed the Marie de' Medici cycle by Peter Paul Rubens) an ...

. These purchases insured his financial security, but his career was short as he died of a heart ailment in 1875, just three days before his forty-second birthday. Today, he is known primarily for hunting scenes and snowy landscapes. He was, in fact, sometimes called the "peintre de la neige" (Snow painter). In addition to his canvases, he also did decorative work in Lyon at the Hôtel de l'Europe and the Palais de la Bourse.

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Chenu.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chenu, Augustin 1833 births 1875 deaths 19th-century French painters French landscape painters People from Briançon French decorative artists

Biography

References

Further reading

External links