Like the
Guillemin family, other famous father/son pairs of sculptors/painters are notable in French art history. The history of the Michallon family comes to mind. The son of sculptor, Claude Michallon, Achille Etna Michallon (1796-1822) showed a remarkable talent at an early age. He was sent to study with the famed Jacques-Louis David and Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes. His talent finely-tuned, he began winning awards with exhibitions of his masterful landscapes in 1817. Two years later, he travelled to Italy where he found enormous inspiration and created some of his finest works. While there, he also copied landscapes by earlier Italian artists so that he could learn all that he could about the Italian style. Some debate this fact, but it is also rumored that the renowned artist, Corot, studied under Michallon. Achille Etna Michallon never had the chance to enjoy his newfound fame. He died from Pneumonia at the age of twenty-six.
What remains of his works are appreciated for their delicate hand and monumentality. This painting, for example, is representative of Michallon’s fine work.
Landscape Inspired by the View of Frascati is among his Italian-inspired pieces. Painted in a studio, rather than in the field, what makes this painting exemplary is the clarity of Michallon’s desire to emulate the style of Classical landscape painting while incorporating his own realist sensibilities. This painting was displayed in the
Salon, and later purchased by France. It now hangs in the Louvre as a lasting reminder of a talent cut short far too soon.
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