Delaroche at the Wallace Collection - French painter Paul Delaroche, National Gallery, London, England

Magazine Antiques, Sept, 1997 by Miriam Kramer

Paul Delaroche was a hugely popular painter during his lifetime, but after his death in 1856 his reputation languished. His works were bought by collectors in Britain, Germany, and Russia as well as his native France. One of his patrons, Richard Seymour Conway (1800-1870), fourth marquis of Hertford, acquired ten oil paintings and two watercolors by Delaroche. This group, one of the most extensive outside France, is in the Wallace Collection, which houses Lord Hertford's collections in what was once his London residence. To mark the bicentenary of Delaroche's birth the Wallace Collection will exhibit all its Delaroche paintings as well as a number of prints made after them. Entitled Death and Devotion: Paintings by Paul Delaroche, the show will be on view from September 11 to January 12, 1998.

In 1818 Delaroche joined the studio of Antoine Jean Gros (1771-1835), who had been trained by Jacques Louis David (1748-1825). This classical training helped Delaroche become a master of history painting. He was elected to the Academie des Beaux Arts in 1832, and was well known for his historical scenes until the mid-1830s, when he had a falling out with the art establishment. Along with a number of other artists, Delaroche withdrew from the Paris Salon exhibitions. In 1835 he declined the commission to paint murals in the Madeleine church in Paris, but the following year he was retained to execute a monumental painting in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts entitled Artists of all Ages. It is still perhaps the best-known monumental painting in France.

On October 4 a study day devoted to Delaroche will be held at the National Gallery in London. It is being organized jointly by the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. The catalogue of the Wallace exhibition, entitled Paul Delaroche 1797-1856: Paintings in the Wallace Collection, was written by Stephen Duffy, the curator of nineteenth-century painting at the museum. It may be purchased for [pounds]12.