- Antoine Cardon
Antoine-Alexandre Cardon (1739,
Brussels - 1822, Brussels), also known as Cardon the elder to distinguish him from his son, was a Belgian painter, portraitist and engraver, born an Austrian due to Brussels then being in the Austrian Netherlands. He lived for a long time on rue de Persil (near place Saint-Michel, now known as Place des Martyrs) in the city, which also passed through French and Dutch hands during his lifetime, and shone in the arts under the Austrian, French and Dutch regimes.Life
He was a student of
Hyacinthe de La Peyne , painter to empressMaria-Theresa I of Hungary , and once followed his teacher toVienna . Thanks to the protection ofCharles de Cobenzl , Maria-Theresa's minister-plenipotentiary in Brussels, Cardon became a pensionary of the government and was thus able to stay for a time inRome andNaples .Recalled to Brussels by Cobenzl, he became a professor at the
Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles and made his artistic career in the city - his pupils includedAdèle Kindt . It was there in 1810 that he andAntoine Brice founded an association of professional and amateur artists. In 1822 Cardon was named a member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands byWilliam II of the Netherlands .He was a highly enthusiastic member of
Freemasonry , then having great success in the nobility of the Austrian Netherlands - his name is among the first initiates of the "loge de l'Union" (third lodge in Brussels, n° 9, inscribed on the tables of 1783 and 1786), and he engraved several Masonic diplomas and emblems.Family
Antoine Cardon was the father of the engraver Antoine Cardon the Younger (1772-1813) who set up as an engraver in
England in 1793 and died inLondon .Works
His secular works include :
* engraving of the painting byAntoine Brice , "Consolation of the Austrian Monarchy on the death of emperor Leopold I"
* engravings for d'Hancarville's book on the antiquities collected inNaples by William Hamilton
* engravings of images afterWatteau
* portrait of Joseph II engraved afterHerreyns
* portrait of the prince de Ligne.
*ource
*equivalent|French
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
