Georges Rochegrosse

Georges Antoine Rochegrosse (1859–1938) was a French historical and decorative painter. He was born at Versailles and studied in Paris with Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger. His themes are generally historical, and he treated them on a colossal scale and in an emotional naturalistic style, with a distinct revelling in horrible subjects and details. He made his Paris Salon début in 1882 with "Vitellius dragged through the streets of Rome by the population" (1882; Sens). He followed this the year afterwards with "Andromaque" (1882-3; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen)which won that year's prestigious Prix du Salon. There followed "La Jacquerie" (1885; Untraced)' "The Fall of Babylon" (1891; Untraced), "The Death of the Emperor Geta" (1899; Musée de Picardie, Amiens), and "Barbarian Ambassadors at the Court of Justinian" (1907; Untraced), are examples of his strong and spirited but sensational and often brutal painting. In quite another style and beautiful in color is his "Le chevalier aux fleurs (The Knight of the Flowers)" (1894; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; RF 898). He was elected an officer of the Legion of Honor in 1892 and received the medal of honor in 1906 for "The Red Delight." He lived his final years in Algeria, but returned to Paris where he died and is buried.

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