Philippe-jacques De Louterbourg

Born in Strasbourg in 1740 and died in London in 1812, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg was a multifaceted artist with many passions. Primarily a landscape painter, he was also a history painter, a theatrical designer, the inventor of a spectacle that foreshadowed dioramas, and a man fascinated by the occult, who temporarily abandoned painting to become a healer. Trained in France by the Italian artist Francesco Giuseppe Casanova, he began his career in Paris before settling permanently in London. He enjoyed a considerable reputation throughout his life, which, however, faded rapidly after his death. Despite various attempts at rehabilitation, Loutherbourg is largely forgotten today. The reconstruction of his painted work, as well as the establishment of a precise biography, has allowed us to more accurately assess his place in the history of painting in the second half of the 18th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. By examining how his work was received by his contemporaries, his preferred genre of landscape painting, and his approach to the art market of his time, we have tried to gain a better understanding of this figure, considered essential in his era. Dimensions with frame: 77 × 64 cm