Clément Belle


Clément Louis Marie Anne Belle was a French painter and tapestry designer.

Life and work

He was the son of Alexis Simon Belle, a well-known portrait painter and a Member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris and his wife, the painter and engraver Marie-Nicole Horthemels. Clément too showed a talent for art and was taught by his mother.
In 1745 he went to Italy, where he spent 10 years studying the old masters and on his return to Paris was accepted into the Academy. In 1765 he was appointed Deputy Professor and then Professor. In 1785 he was appointed Deputy Rector and then Rector.
In 1755 he was appointed head of the art section at the Gobelins Manufactory, an historic tapestry producer in Paris. Although he held the post for 30 years it did not prevent him creating paintings of his own. At some point between 1791 and 1793, the three painters who worked at the Gobelins were dismissed.
He died in 1806. His son Augustin-Louis Belle succeeded him to his position at Gobelins.

Selected works

Le Christ en Croix avec la Vierge et saint Jean, 1762, oil on canvas, 292 x 195 cm, Musée des beaux-arts de Dijon, Dijon. Le Retour de l'enfant prodigue, musée Magnin, Dijon.Minerve remet à Hercule le decret qui a aboli les vices de l'ancien gouvernement, c.1790, oil on canvas, 36 x 39 cm, inventory no. INV 20297 A Louvre Museum