Granet, François Marius

▪ French painter

born Dec. 17, 1775, Aix-en-Provence, France

died Nov. 21, 1849, Aix-en-Provence

      French painter and watercolourist. With a number of other artists—Jean-Auguste-Dominque Ingres, Antoine-Jean Gros, Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson—he lived and worked in the former convent of the Capuchins in the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. There he found the subjects most characteristic of his work—cloisters, cells, and large, quiet sunlit rooms, with mild historical compositions in the same tranquil settings.

      In 1802 Granet went to Rome, where he stayed for 17 years. On his return to Paris in 1819 he exhibited in the Salon his “Choeur de l'Église des Capucins,” which was so successful that 16 replicas were commissioned. His paintings and watercolours influenced the evolution of Camille Corot (Corot, Camille)'s style. In 1826 he was made conservator of the Louvre, and in 1830 Louis Philippe made him curator of the pictures at Versailles. He left a large bequest to the Granet Museum in his hometown.

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