Benjamin Rolland

Benjamin de Rolland
Portrait by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, 1816
Musée de Grenoble
Born(1773-04-23)23 April 1773
Guadeloupe, French West Indies
Died24 March 1855(1855-03-24) (aged 81)
Grenoble, Isère, France
Other nameLe déterminé furieux
EducationJacques-Louis David at the Louvre, Paris
Occupations
  • Portraitist
  • Court painter
  • Museum director
  • Director of Academy of Arts
  • Author
Known forPainting
MovementAcademic art
Neoclassicism
French School
Romanticism
PatronsJoachim Murat, King of Naples

Benjamin Rolland, or Benjamin de Rolland (23 April 1773, Guadeloupe – 24 March 1855, Grenoble, Isère), was a French history painter and student of David. He held a number of high-profile art appointments, including court painter; museum curator and director; and art academy professor and director.

Biography

Benjamin de Rolland was born in 1773, on the island of Guadeloupe and was of French Creole descent and Carcassonne nobility. He left Guadeloupe around the age of 13 to pursue his education in Paris, France.

De Rolland befriended and studied with Guillaume Guillon-Lethière at his atelier in Rue Childebert, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, who brought together a whole French Caribbean society in Paris, under the leadership of Joséphine de Beauharnais, such as General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas with his son, the writer Alexandre Dumas père and Chevalier de Saint-George.

A student of Jacques-Louis David in the late 1790s before being appointed court painter in 1807 and tutoring King Joachim Murat's children at the Royal Palaces of Caserta and Naples. He painted many neoclassical portraits of members of the royal and aristocratic families.

From 1817 to 1853, he served as the director and curator of the Museum of Grenoble. De Rolland also directed and taught at the city's School of Painting and Drawing, where his students included the artists Ernest Hébert, Théodore Fantin-Latour (father of Henri Fantin-Latour), Jules Guédy, Alexandre Debelle, Victor Sappey and Eugénie Chosson du Colombier.

Benjamin de Rolland exhibited regularly at the Paris Salons, held at the Louvre Palace in 1801, 1806, 1808, 1817, 1819, 1822, and 1824.

The Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée de Grenoble, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Museo Mario Praz and the Royal Palace of Caserta are among the cultural institutions that have a number of his paintings in their permanent collections.

Portrait of Vivant-Jean Brunet-Denon, baron de l'Empire, 1806

Museum collections

Iconography

References

  1. ↑ "Rolland, Benjamin de". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Benezit Dictionary of Artists. September 2025. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00155033.
  2. ↑ Lozère, Christelle (6 April 2020). Le Paris des artistes antillais. De l'académisme des Salons à une créolité artistique affirmée (in French). Université des Antilles: Presses Universitaires de la Nouvelle-Aquitaine. pp. 140–154. Retrieved 24 September 2025. Parallèlement le portraitiste Benjamin Rolland, né à la Guadeloupe en 1777, étudie à l'École des beaux-arts dans l'atelier de Jacques-Louis David. Il fera une brillante carrière en tant que conservateur du musée de Grenoble de 1817 à 1853. [At the same time, the portrait painter Benjamin Rolland, born in Guadeloupe in 1777, studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jacques-Louis David. He had a brilliant career as curator of the Grenoble Museum from 1817 to 1853]
  3. 1 2 3 Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo (13 December 2022). Creole: Portraits of France's Foreign Relations During the Long Nineteenth Century. Penn State Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-271-09269-0.
  4. 1 2 Napoli Nobilissima: rivista di arti figurative, archeologia e urbanistica (in Italian). Arte Tipografica. 2007. p. 228.
  5. ↑ Notice Œuvre, Musée de Grenoble, September 2025, retrieved 24 September 2025, Issu de la noblesse carcassonnaise, Benjamin Rolland naît en Guadeloupe à la fin du XVIIIe siècle après l'installation de sa famille sur l'île. [Born into the Carcassonne nobility, Benjamin Rolland was born in Guadeloupe at the end of the 18th century after his family settled on the island.]
  6. ↑ Rolland, Benjamin; Henry, Thomas (1838). "Catalogue des tableaux, statues et autres objets d'art du Musée de Grenoble" [Catalog of paintings, statues, and other art objects in the Grenoble Museum]. National Library of France (in French). Grenoble: impr. de Prudhomme. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  7. ↑ Bénédite, Léonce (1910). Great Painters of the XIXth Century and Their Paintings. Sir I. Pitman and sons. p. 123.
  8. ↑ Saur, K.G. (2024). "Benjamin de Rolland". Artists of the World. Berlin: De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 1865-0511.
  9. ↑ Bernard, Jules (1901). "Catalogue de tableaux, statues, bas-reliefs et objets d'art exposés dans les galeries du Musée de peinture et de sculpture / [introduction et catalogue par Jules Bernard]; Ville de Grenoble" [Catalogue of paintings, statues, bas-reliefs, and objets d'art exhibited in the galleries of the Museum of Painting and Sculpture / [introduction and catalogue by Jules Bernard]; City of Grenoble]. National Library of France (in French). Grenoble: Impr. générale (Grenoble). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  10. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Homère chantant son Iliade". Louvre Museum. 1804. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  11. ↑ Musée du Louvre (1817). "Benjamin de Rolland: Reception in Bordeaux of the Duke and Duchess of Angoulême at the Palais Rohan, who came to preside over the legislative elections in 1815". Collections des musées de France (Joconde). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  12. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland (43295)". Musée d'Orsay. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  13. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Portrait d'Ernest Hébert adolescent". Musée d'Orsay. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  14. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Portrait d'enfant (Aug. Noël)". The Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  15. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Young Girl Entering the Bath or Standing Nude at the Bath". Museum of Grenoble. 1805. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  16. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: A father and his sick child". Museum of Grenoble. 1808. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  17. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Portrait of two girls, set in a landscape". National Museum of Romanticism (Palace of the Marquis of Matallana, Madrid). 1821. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  18. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Napoleon holding the hand of Marshal Duroc as he dies". Palais Fesch-musée des beaux-arts. 1814. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  19. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Portraits of Joachim Murat's children in the garden of the Royal Palace of Caserta". Royal Palace of Caserta. 1811. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  20. ↑ "Dance with Art: Aprile Al Museo". Ministero Della Cultura, Rome. 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  21. ↑ Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (1817). "Benjamin de Rolland: Réception du duc et de la Duchesse d'Angoulême au Palais Rohan". Collections des musées de France (Joconde). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  22. ↑ Société des Arts et des Sciences de Carcassonne (1864). Notice des tableaux et dessins exposés au Musée de Carcassonne (in French). Carcassonne: Imprimerie de L. Pomiés. p. 53. Rolland (Benjamin), artiste vivant, conservateur du Musée de Grenoble. 134. Les trois âges de l'Homme. Ce tableau est signé: Rolland f.. 1831. 135. Vénus endormie. Les amours écartent les mauvais songes
  23. ↑ Lozère, Christelle (6 April 2020). Le Paris des artistes antillais. De l'académisme des Salons à une créolité artistique affirmée (in French). Université des Antilles: Presses Universitaires de la Nouvelle-Aquitaine. pp. 140–154. Retrieved 24 September 2025. Image 1. Benjamin Rolland, Portrait d'Esther de Vogüé, huile sur toile, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Saint-François, 1833
  24. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Portraits: Achille Murat". Certosa di San Martino e Museo Nazionale di San Martino. 1800–1824.
  25. ↑ Praz, Mario (31 March 2010). The House of Life (translated by Angus Davidson). Boston, MA: David R Godine Pub. ISBN 978-1567923995.
  26. ↑ Praz, Mario (14 January 1979). La Casa della Vita (in Italian). Milano: Adelphi Edizioni. p. 347. ASIN B01M4GD3D6.
  27. ↑ Mazzocca, Fernando; Venturi, Gianni (2006). Antonio Canova: la cultura figurativa e letteraria dei grandi centri italiani. 2, Milano, Firenze, Napoli [Antonio Canova: The Figurative and Literary Culture of the Great Italian Centers, Vol. 2, Milan, Florence, Naples] (in Italian). Bassano del Grappa: Cità di Bassano del Grappa, Assessorato alla Cultura e alle Attivatà Museali; Istituto di Ricerca per gli Studi su Canova e il Neoclassicismo. p. 364. ISBN 978-8890067495.
  28. ↑ "Benjamin de Rolland: Portrait of a young Hunter". Château-musée de Gien, Chasse, histoire et nature en Val-de-Loire. 1816. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  29. ↑ The catalog entry for the Girodet exhibition, Paris, 2005-2006, states that this painting was purchased for 600 francs; the museum's website, see the following note, mentions a gift from the model.
  30. ↑ "Portrait of Benjamin de Rolland" (in French). Musée de Grenoble. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  31. ↑ "Portrait of Benjamin de Rolland" (in French). Musée de Grenoble. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  32. ↑ "Portrait présumé de Benjamin Rolland" (in French). Collections des musées de France (Joconde). Retrieved 26 September 2025.

Bibliography

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