''L'art pompier'' (literally 'fireman art') or ''style pompier'' is a derisive late-19th century French term for large 'official'

academic art Academic art, academicism, or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. This method extended its influence throughout the Western world over several centuries, from its origins i ...

paintings of the time, especially historical or allegorical ones. The term derives from the helmets with horse-hair tails, worn at the time by French firemen, which are similar to the

Attic helmet The Attic helmet was a type of helmet that originated in Classical Greece and was widely used in Italy and the Hellenistic world until well into the Roman Empire. Its name is a modern historiographic convention: "Terms such as Illyrian and Attic a ...

s often worn in such works by allegorical personifications, classical warriors, or Napoleonic cavalry. It also suggests half-puns in French with ''pompéien'' ('from

Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...

') and ''pompeux'' ('pompous'). This type of art was seen by those who used the term as the epitome of the values of the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

, and as insincere and overblown. ''L'art pompier'' (a term supporters mostly avoid) has enjoyed something of a critical revival in the last twenty years, partly caused by the new

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

in Paris, where it is displayed on more equal terms with the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

and Realist painters of the period.Harding, The ''Manifeste Pompier'' ('Fireman Manifesto') by Louis-Marie Lécharny was published in Paris in 1990. He also wrote ''L'art Pompier'' (1998).

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

, Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry, Alfred Agache,

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 ...

Joseph-Noël Sylvestre Joseph-Noël Sylvestre (24 June 1847 – 29 October 1926) was a French artist, notable for his studies of classic scenes from antiquity.Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (; 21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught many notable contemporary figures of the art world, such as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chava ...

are among the classic artists of this genre.

Notes

References

* Harding, James. ''Artistes pompiers: French academic art in the 19th century'', New York: Rizzoli, 1979. * Lécharny, Louis-Marie. L'Art pompier , 1998, p. 14 * Bonafoux, Pascal. ''Dictionnaire de la peinture par les peintres'' , Perrin, Paris, 2012
(''read online'')

External links

* Article on ''Peut-on parler d’une peinture pompier?'', by Jacques Thuillier

French art movements fr:Art pompier {{19C-painting-stub