Paul-Joseph Blanc
Pages:
1
(b Paris, 25 Jan 1846; d Paris, 5 July 1904).
French painter. He was a pupil of Emile Bin (1825–97) and Alexandre
Cabanel at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in 1867 won the
Prix de Rome with the Murder of Laius by Oedipus (1867; Paris, Ecole
N. Sup. B.-A.), which opened up an official career to him. He
painted religious and mythological subjects (e.g. Perseus on
Pegasus, 1869; Nîmes, Mus. B.-A.) and also worked on numerous
decorative projects in both Paris and the provinces. Between 1873
and 1883 he worked on the huge mural compositions the Vow of Clovis
at the Battle of Tolbiac and the Baptism of Clovis for the Panthéon
in Paris, executed in an academic style. He produced a series of 14
panels depicting the Passion of Christ for the church of St Peter at
Douai. He executed four grisailles for the cupola of the church of
Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris, which were commissioned in 1873 and
finished in 1875 and depicted St Louis, Charlemagne, Robert the
Pious and Clovis. He painted four panels for the corridor of the
foyer of the Opéra Comique in Paris, showing Music, Comedy, Song and
Dance. In 1882 he was commissioned to decorate the staircase leading
to the ‘Comité des Maréchaux’ room in the Ministère de la Guerre
[now Ministère de la Défense], Paris, with three panels depicting
The Departure, The Charge and Salve Patria. His tapestry cartoons
for the Gobelins included one for the Arms of the Town of Paris
(1892) for the Tribunal de Commerce in Paris; he contributed a large
decorative frieze for the Palais des Beaux-Arts at the Exposition
Universelle in Paris in 1900. He also participated in the enormous
enterprise of decorating the new Hôtel de Ville in Paris, producing
five compositions influenced by Luc Olivier Merson. Destined for the
north landing of the Escalier des fêtes, they represent the
Republican Months, Dawn, Day, Evening and Night and were finished in
1903.
