Michel Garnier

Michel Garnier (21 January 1753 – 22 December 1829) was a French painter of genre scenes, portraits, and botanical still lifes. He was active primarily between 1781 and 1814, receiving patronage from the French nobility before participating as a scientific illustrator in the Baudin expedition to the Southern Seas.

Biography Early life and patronage Garnier was active between 1781 and 1814; few documents detail his life and works. Garnier's father was employed as a floor polisher (frotteur) by Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, at the Château de Saint-Cloud. Garnier began his career working for the royal household. His earliest known work, dated 1781, is a portrait of the Duke of Orléans. He continued to exhibit at the Salon until 1814, displaying genre subjects similar to contemporaries like Marguerite Gérard and Louis-Léopold Boilly. Garnier traveled as a passenger on the corvette Le Naturaliste. In 1801, during a stopover at Isle de France, Garnier and several other artists and scientists left the expedition due to failing health. He lost most of his possessions but retained his botanical paintings. He made unsuccessful attempts to sell these works to the French state before his death. The Meeting (La Rencontre) – Musée Antoine-Lécuyer, Saint-Quentin. The Interrupted Marriage Contract (Le Contrat de mariage interrompu, 1784–1794) – Musée Carnavalet, Paris. A Merveilleuse under the Arcades of the Palais Royal (1787) – Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The Letter (1791) – Minneapolis Institute of Art. The Painter's Studio (L'Atelier du peintre, 1793–1794) – Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Étienne. Gust of Wind on the Pont Royal (1799) – Dallas Museum of Art. Scene of Reproach (Scène de reproches) – Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon. Botanical Studies (e.g., Cocos nucifera, Myristica fragrans) – Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris.

Auction history The Departure of Monsieur de Saint-Marc for the Battle of Fontenoy (1788) – Oil on canvas, sold at Christie's Paris on 26 June 2002. Hide and Seek and The Music Lesson (1788/1789) – A pair of panel paintings exemplifying his Dutch-style genre scenes.