Joseph Bonaventure Laurens (1801–1890) Nude From Behind
Bonaventure Laurens, born July 14, 1801, in Carpentras, died June 28, 1890, in Montpellier, was what some have called a “universal mind,” having distinguished himself notably as a painter, watercolorist, and lithographer, as well as a musician, archaeologist, geologist, and theorist.
A musician and great lover of music, he was in contact with the great composers of his time (Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, etc.) and played a role in the rediscovery of Bach. He also discovered the manuscript of Elzéar Genêt, known as Il Carpentrasso, a 16th-century composer who served the Pope in Rome.
He collaborated with Félix Danjou on the *Revue de la musique religieuse, populaire et classique*. A self-taught painter, draftsman, and watercolorist, his talent brought him recognition, and he contributed as a lithographer to several publications, notably, beginning in 1835, Baron Taylor and Charles Nodier’s *Picturesque and Romantic Journeys Through Ancient France*, as well as *Monuments of the Lower Languedoc* and the album on the Lyon-Mediterranean Railway.He also published his travel memoirs from Mallorca, which are said to have inspired George Sand’s *A Winter in Mallorca*.He was the author of a theoretical work, *Essay on the Theory of Picturesque Beauty and the Applications of This Theory to the Arts of Drawing*, in which he expressed his commitment to Neoclassicism over Realism. Finally, in 1864, he published *Album des Dames*, comprising twenty-five portraits of women accompanied by poems and musical pieces.
Bonaventure associated with numerous painters and sculptors (Ingres, Pradier, Corot, Cabanel) and participated in the Provençalist movement embodied by Frédéric Mistral.He helped and supported the painting career of his younger brother, Jules Laurens (1825–1901).
The Inguimbertine Library and the museums of Carpentras hold a large collection of drawings and watercolors depicting the entire southern region of France, which constitute a primary source for understanding the landscape of these regions in the 19th century.
Period: 19th century
Style: Other Style
Condition: Fully restored
Material: Water color
Width: 33,5
Height: 26
Reference (ID): 1824477
Availability: In stock
