Anne-Louis Girodet | Pittore Romantico

Girodet-Trioson ‹ˇʃirodè trioʃõ´›, Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy detto - Pittore, litografo e scrittore Francese (Montargis, Loiret, 1767 - Parigi 1824).

Allievo prediletto di Jacques-Louis David, ne ereditò un formale linguaggio neoclassico. Vincitore, nel 1789, del Prix de Rome, soggiornò a lungo in Italia.

Nuovamente a Parigi, nel 1795, dipinse alcuni ritratti (Mademoiselle Lange comme Danae, New York, coll. Wilderstein) che preannunciavano il gusto romantico, ma predilesse temi storici e celebrativi (Ossian accoglie nel Walhalla i generali della Repubblica caduti per la patria, 1801, castello della Malmaison) talvolta elaborati in faticose composizioni.

Tra le opere migliori Il seppellimento di Atala (1808, Parigi, Louvre), ispirato al romanzo di F.-R. Chateaubriand. Lasciò numerosi disegni e illustrazioni per Racine, Virgilio, Ossian, ecc., e il poema didattico La Peinture. | © Treccani, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (or de Roucy), also known as Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson or simply Girodet (1767-1824), was trained in the neoclassical style of his teacher, Jacques-Louis David, seen in his treatment of the male figure and his reference to models from the Renaissance and Classical antiquity.

However, he also deviated from this style in several ways. The peculiarities which mark Girodet's position as the herald of the romantic movement are already evident in his Sleep of Endymion (1791, also called Effet de lune or "effect of the Moon").

Although the subject matter and pose are inspired by classical precedents, Girodet's diffuse lighting is more theatrical and atmospheric. The androgynous depiction of the sleeping shepherd Endymion is also noteworthy.

These early romantic effects were even more notable in his Ossian, exhibited in 1802. Girodet portrayed recently killed Napoleonic soldiers being welcomed into Valhalla by the fictional bard Ossian. The painting is striking for its inclusion of phosphorescent meteors, vaporous luminosity, and spectral protagonists.

The same coupling of classic and romantic elements marks Girodet's Danae (1799) and his Quatre Saisons, executed for the king of Spain (repeated for Compiègne), and shows itself to a ludicrous extent in his Fingal (Leuchtenberg collection, St. Petersburg), executed for Napoleon in 1802.

Girodet can be seen here combining aspects of his classical training and traditional education with new literary trends, popular scientific spectacles, and a consummate interest in the strange and the bizarre.

In this way his work announces the rise of a romantic aesthetic which prizes individuality, expression, and imagination over an adherence to classical academic precedents. | Source: © Wikipedia