(Geneva 1801–1884)
Portrait of Jean-Henri Merle d’Aubigne (1794–1872), signed Lugardon pix, oil on canvas, 46 x 36.5 cm, framed

Jean-Léonard Lugardon was born in Geneva in 1801 and began his training with drawing lessons at the Société des Arts de Genève. From 1820 to 1822 he was a pupil of Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris and of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in Florence. He then went on an educational trip to Italy and stayed in Rome from 1826 to 1829, where his son Albert, who later became a painter himself, was born. Lugardon took part in art exhibitions from 1823, was admitted to art fairs at the Louvre four years later and subsequently received awards and commissions from King Louis-Philippe. Between 1836 and 1843, Lugardon directed the art school in Geneva.
In 1851 he undertook a study trip to Algeria. He exhibited the works he created there at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1855. As a Swiss painter of history, genre and portraits, Jean-Léonard Lugardon was one of the representatives of the Geneva School of Romantic painting, along with his friends Alexandre Calame, François Diday and Joseph Hornung.

This lot shows the Reformed Swiss theologian and church historian Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné (Eaux-Vives near Geneva 1794 - 1872 Geneva) in his study. In front of him on the desk is a manuscript of one of his most important publications. The ‘Histoire de la Réformation du seizième siècle’ was published in five volumes between 1835 and 1853.