Louis Antoine Capdevielle - self-portrait

Louis Antoine Capdevielle (9 May 1849,

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

- 27 July 1905, Lourdes) was a French

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 ...

painter.

Biography

His father was a slate quarrier. He showed an early talent for drawing and took lessons from a local artist named Couthouly before enrolling at the

École nationale supérieure 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 The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in 1868, with financial assistance from a local magistrate (coincidentally also named Capdevielle, although not related) and a subsidy from the Lourdes Municipal Council. His primary instructor there was the painter and sculptor,

Aimé Millet Aimé Millet (September 28, 1819 – January 14, 1891) was a French sculptor who was a professor at the École des Arts décoratifs. Biography Born in Paris, Millet was the son of miniaturist Frédéric Millet (1796–1859) and uncle to Chica ...

. In 1870, absorbed in his studies, he neglected to present himself for the

sortition In governance, sortition is the selection of public officer, officials or jurors at random, i.e. by Lottery (probability), lottery, in order to obtain a representative sample. In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and pr ...

at the beginning of the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

. As a result, he was arbitrarily assigned to an infantry regiment and served in the

Armée de la Loire The Armée de la Loire was a French army of the Franco-Prussian War. It was formed in October 1870 by Léon Gambetta, interior minister and minister for war in the Government of National Defence, then taking refuge in Tours after the French de ...

. After being demobilized, he returned to the École; pursuing studies with

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French Painting, painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the Academic art, academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. He was Napoleon ...

and

Léon Bonnat Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (; 20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur, art collector and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Early life Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 ...

. He got married in 1873 and, the following year, had his first showing at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

. In 1876, he was awarded a travel grant to study in Spain and displayed the works he created there at the Salon of 1877. His wife died prematurely in 1878, shortly after he had been called up for a new round of military exercises. He remarried in 1880 and one of his sons from this marriage, Raoul (1880-1910), also became a painter. In 1886, anticipating a special "Salon Triennal", he obtained a grant from the city of Lourdes to create a large canvas depicting the Miracle in the Grotto. Despite his working continuously for a year, it was not ready in time. Faced with a stalled career and chronic financial problems, he returned to Lourdes in 1890. Capdevielle-Plucking

Once settled there, he turned to portrait painting. Most of his sitters were from the local bourgeoisie, but he also painted

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

, during his visit there in 1892 to do research for his novel ''Lourdes''. About that same time, he met Cyprien Pintat, a restaurant and hotel owner from

Luz-Saint-Sauveur Luz-Saint-Sauveur (; Gascon: ''Lus e Sent Sauvaire'', before 1962: ''Luz'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitania region of south-western France. It lies on the river Bastan, a tributary of the Gave de Pau. Its i ...

. He and his prominent

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

n family became major patrons. Apart from brief trips to Spain and London, he lived a quiet life in the

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/ Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs ; alts piɾiˈneʊs ) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. The department is bordered by Pyrénées-Atlantiques to t ...

until his death in 1905.

Sources

* Jean Cambon, ''Un grand peintre bigourdan, Louis Antoine Capdevielle 1849-1905'', Académie de Lourdes 2001 *

Jean Cassou Jean Cassou (; 9 July 1897 – 15 January 1986) was a French writer, art critic, poet, member of the French Resistance during World War II and the first Director of the Musée national d'Art moderne in Paris. Biography Jean Cassou was born at ...

and Geneviève Marsan, ''Louis Capdevielle'', Société Académique des Hautes-Pyrénées, Musée Pyrénéen * Pierre Pintat, ''La légende de "La Fée du Lac"'', 2010, 142 p.,

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capdevielle, Louis 1849 births 1905 deaths 19th-century French painters French genre painters École des Beaux-Arts People from Lourdes