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Joseph-Marie Vien

Born: Montpellier, France, 18 June 1716
Died: Paris, 27 March 1809
Nationality: French

Studies:

with Charles-Joseph Natoire (1740-44, Paris), French Academy in Rome (1744-50)

Career:

1743 – wins Prix de Rome

1750 – fails in application to Académie Royale

1751 - Académie Royale junior member (agréé) based on acceptance of The Embarkation of St Martha (1751)

1754 - Académie Royale full member (history painter) based on acceptance of Daedalus and Icarus (1754, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris)

1756 – refuses offer to become court painter to Frederik V, King of Denmark

1759 – becomes Académie Royale professor

1775-89 – becomes Director of French Academy in Rome

1789 – appointed First Painter to Louis XVI

Travels:

Rome (1744-50; 1775-89)

Commissions from:

Bâtiments du Roi (state), Louis XVI, Danish Count Adam Gottlieb Moltke

Important Artworks:

St Denis Preaching the Faith in France, 1767 (St Roch, Paris)