''Funeral of Lope de Vega'' by Paul Balze Paul Jean Étienne Balze (1815 – 24 March 1884) was a French painter and art copyist.

Biography

He was born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, the son of Joseph Balze (1781–1847), grand chamberlain to

Charles IV of Spain Charles IV (; 11 November 1748 – 20 January 1819) was King of Spain and ruler of the Spanish Empire from 1788 to 1808. The Spain inherited by Charles IV gave few indications of instability, but during his reign, Spain entered a series of disa ...

during the latter's exile in Rome between 1811 and 1819. His brother Raymond Balze was also an artist. During his stay in Rome, Joseph Balze met the painter

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

and commissioned several works from him after 1814. Paul entered the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris at the start of the 1830s, becoming copyist to the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. By now Ingres was director of the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the dire ...

, from which he requested that Paul and Raymond be sent to copy the 1519 Vatican loggias by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. These 52 copies were exhibited in 1840 in the chapel of the école des beaux-arts in Paris. In 1843, to reply to a request by Ingres to find a "home as a monument", Félix Duban proposed placing them on the first floor galleries in the Palais des Études. These copies were placed in the gallery vaults between 1854 and 1855 by the decorative painters Charles Chauvin and Camille-Auguste Gastine. Paul Balze produced several other Raphael reproductions in

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white Ceramic glaze, pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an stannous oxide, oxide of tin to the Slip (c ...

and also took part in the decorative scheme of the Hôtel de la Banque de France in Paris. In 1855 he and Raymond made a copy of Ingres' '' The Apotheosis of Homer'' for one of the stairways in the Louvre. Between 1875 and 1881 the pair restored the

Francesco Primaticcio Francesco Primaticcio (; April 30, 1504 – 1570) was an Italian Mannerism, Mannerist Painting, painter, architect and sculpture, sculptor who spent most of his career in France. Biography Born in Bologna, he trained under Giulio Romano ( ...

frescoes in the abbot's chapel in

Chaalis Abbey Chaalis Abbey (, ) was a French Cistercian abbey north of Paris, at Fontaine-Chaalis, near Ermenonville, now in Oise. History It was founded in 1136 by Louis VI of France. There had previously been a Benedictine monastery in the same place. Mo ...

. Paul Balze died in Paris on 24 March 1884.

External links

*https://archive.org/stream/archivesdelartfr845sociuoft/archivesdelartfr845sociuoft_djvu.txt 1815 births 1884 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters Sibling artists 19th-century French male artists {{France-painter-19thC-stub