Home Online catalogues True to Nature. Open-air Painting 1780-1870 42. Joseph-Désiré Court Rouen 1797 – 1865 Rouen Study of Rocks A descendant on his mother’s side of the portrait painter Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659–1743), Joseph-Désiré Court studied under Baron Gros at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Like his teacher, he achieved recognition as both a history painter and a portraitist. He won the Prix de Rome for history painting in 1821, and was appointed director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts of his native Rouen in 1853. Probably painted during his student years in Italy, this view depicts a craggy outcrop of sedimentary rock in the region of Lazio, famous for its wild and picturesque topography of steep valleys and cone-shaped mountains. An inscription on the back of the painting identifies the location as the hills above Subiaco, an ancient Roman town which was a regular stop for tourists and artists, drawn to its picturesque qualities and medieval Benedictine Abbey. Here, however, Court climbed up out of the village and turned his attention to the strange, raw shapes of the rocks which dominate the composition in the foreground. The rough handling of paint suggests both the speed with which the artist worked and the rock’s coarse and irregular texture.
A descendant on his mother’s side of the portrait painter Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659–1743), Joseph-Désiré Court studied under Baron Gros at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Like his teacher, he achieved recognition as both a history painter and a portraitist. He won the Prix de Rome for history painting in 1821, and was appointed director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts of his native Rouen in 1853. Probably painted during his student years in Italy, this view depicts a craggy outcrop of sedimentary rock in the region of Lazio, famous for its wild and picturesque topography of steep valleys and cone-shaped mountains. An inscription on the back of the painting identifies the location as the hills above Subiaco, an ancient Roman town which was a regular stop for tourists and artists, drawn to its picturesque qualities and medieval Benedictine Abbey. Here, however, Court climbed up out of the village and turned his attention to the strange, raw shapes of the rocks which dominate the composition in the foreground. The rough handling of paint suggests both the speed with which the artist worked and the rock’s coarse and irregular texture.