Joseph-Marie Vien

Joseph-Marie Vien (18 June 1716 – 27 March 1809) was a French painter. He was the last holder of the post of Premier peintre du Roi, serving from 1789 to 1791, before it was abolished during the French Revolution. Biography He was born in Montpellier. As a protégé of the Comte de Caylus, he entered the studio of Natoire at an early age and obtained the Prix de Rome in 1745. He used his time at Rome in applying to the study of nature and the development of his own powers all that he gleaned from the masterpieces around him; but his tendencies were so foreign to the reigning taste that, upon his return to Paris, he owed his admission to the academy for his picture Daedalus and Icarus (Louvre) solely to the indignant protests of François Boucher.

In 1757, Joseph-Marie Vien married Marie-Thérèse Reboul, a French painter and engraver, who he also may have taught. Their son was born in 1761 and later distinguished himself as a painter as well. Saint Denis préchant (1767), Church of Saint-Roch, Paris Grecque au bain (1767), Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico Jeunes grecques parant de fleurs l'Amour endormi (1773), Musée du Louvre Saint Louis Handing Over the Regency to His Mother (1773), Saint-Louis Chapel, École Militaire, Paris Venus, Wounded by Diomedes, Is Saved by Iris (1775), Columbus Museum of Art Les adieux d'Hector et d'Andromaque (1786), Musée du Louvre Love Fleeing Slavery (1789), Princeton University Art Museum Toilette d'une jeune mariée dans le costume antique, (100x135 cm) (private collection)

Gallery