(b Carpentras, 10 April 1758; d
Montmorency, 20 Oct 1846).
French painter. He was apprenticed in Lyon for six years with his
brother Jean-Pierre-Xavier Bidauld (1745–1813), a landscape and
still-life painter. Subsequently, they left Lyon to travel together
in Switzerland and Provence. In 1783 he moved to Paris, where he met
Joseph Vernet (from whom he received valuable advice),
Joseph-Siffred Duplessis and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. In 1785 he went
to Rome with the assistance of Cardinal de Bernis and his patron,
the dealer and perfumer Dulac. He stayed there for five years,
travelling through Tuscany, Umbria and Campania and painting such
works as Roman Landscape (1788; Basle, Kstmus.). Bidauld was closely
involved with the circle of French Neo-classical painters in Rome in
the 1780s. He was friendly with Louis Gauffier, Nicolas-Antoine
Taunay and especially with Guillaume Lethière, who became his
brother-in-law and with whom he occasionally collaborated. On his
return to Paris in 1790 he travelled extensively in France, visiting
Brittany, the Dauphiné and in particular Montmorency, where he
stayed in the Mont-Louis house that had been the home of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Gorge at Civita Castellana
Discuss Art
Please note: site admin does not answer any questions. This is our readers discussion only.