Thursday, March 22, 2012

A Broken Hero

Belisarius receiving hospitality from a peasant who had served under him (1779) by the French neoclassical painter Jean-François Pierre Peyron (1744-1814).

Peyron was one of the most influential neoclassical painters of his time until the rise of David. He shows here the great Byzantine General who defeated Vandals and Ostrogoths but was nonetheless blinded by an ungrateful Emperor. Here the old blind hero is still worshiped by one of his veterans.
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3 comments:

  1. HelsMarch 22, 2012 at 8:56 PM

    Art history is a fickle thing, isn't it? I know almost every neoclassical work of David, yet I have never even heard of the neoclassical works of Peyron. Perhaps the difference was not talent, but patronage.

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  2. XenophonMarch 24, 2012 at 2:10 AM

    I think they are all based on Nicolas Poussin. But you are probably right about the patronage. David was a great opportunist who always stayed with the powerful.

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  3. Lampros LampinosMarch 25, 2012 at 4:30 AM

    I like your choices.. thanks!

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