(Aix 1775-1849)
Monks in the Colosseum, an old inscription "Interieur du Coliseé, Granet, 1830" on the reverse, the remains of a signature Gran (trimmed) at right margin, watercolour on firm paper, 15,1 x 11,8 cm, framed, (BH)

Francois Marius Granet The son of a master mason Francois Marius Granet grew up in the southern French town of Aix-en-Provence. There he attended the studio of the landscape painter Jean-Antoine Constantin and learned to paint from nature. In the studio he became acquainted with Count Auguste de Forbin, who became decisive for Granet's career and his patron. From 1794 Granet worked for some time as a decorative painter at the arsenal in Toulon. On the recommendation of Forbin, Granet was also accepted for a short time in the studio of Jacques Louis David in Paris. There he also met Jean-Auguste-Dominque-Ingres, whose style strongly influenced him. From 1799 to 1801 Granet began his career with some highly regarded monastery and church interiors. His final breakthrough was in Rome, where he sojourned from 1802 to 1824 and which became his second home. From 1806 onwards, he regularly supplied the Paris Salon with interiors of Roman churches, monasteries and studios. The artist undertook many trips to the surroundings of Rome and to Naples and Assisi. In 1824 he returned to Paris and began a museum career, including a position as curator of the Louvre and director of the picture gallery in Versailles. He spent the last year of his life at his country estate near Aix. His estate is kept in the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence. Granet became known above all for his history painting in the Gothic style and for his Romantic genre painting. Due to the Romantic scenes in sacred architecture, he was also called the "painter of the Capuchins". Granet himself divided his works into "interiors" and "ruins". He atmospherically staged monasteries, damp crypts or prisons, with contrasts of light and shade which create a particularly mysterious atmosphere.