Joseph-Benoît Suvée

Infobox Artist
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name = Joseph-Benoît Suvée


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birthname =
birthdate = 3 January 1743
location = Bruges
deathdate = 9 February 1807
deathplace = Rome
nationality = Belgian
field = Painting
training = Pupil of Matthias de Visch and Jean-Jacques Bachelier
movement = Neo-classicism
works = "Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi" (1795)
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influenced by =Jacques-Louis David
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awards = Prix de Rome (1771)

Joseph-Benoît Suvée (Bruges, 3 January 1743 - Rome, 9 February 1807) was a Belgian painter strongly influenced by French neo-classicism. He emulated and competed with Jacques-Louis David, earning his enduring hatred.

Life

Initially a pupil of Matthias de Visch, he came to France aged 19 and became a pupil of Jean-Jacques Bachelier. In 1771, he won the Prix de Rome. In Rome from 1772 to 1778, he prolonged the usual duration allowed to pensionaries of the French Academy in Rome. he was named an academician on his return to Paris and he opened an art school for young women at the Louvre.

Named the French Academy in Rome's director in 1792, replacing François-Guillaume Ménageot, he was imprisoned for a while in the Prison Saint-Lazare and only able to take up the post in 1801. After a brilliant career, and a six years' stay in Rome as the Academy's Director, he died there suddenly.

Works

*"Achilles depositing the body of Hector at the feet of the body of Patroclus", 1769, Louvre
*"Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi", 1795, Louvre

External links

* [http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=rs_display_res&critere=Joseph-Benoit+Suvee&operator=AND&photoOnly=true&nbToDisplay=20&langue=fr Works by him at the Louvre]
* [http://www.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/index.aspx?local=en&chp=801&p=themaspub&query=identifier=801&toppub=797&page=0 Graphic works of Suvée in the Flemish Art Collection]