Joseph-Marie Vien
Joseph-Marie Vien was a French painter. He was the last holder of the post of Premier peintre du Roi, serving from 1789 to 1791, before it was abolished during the French Revolution.
Biography
He was born in Montpellier. As a protégé of the Comte de Caylus, he entered the studio of Natoire at an early age and obtained the Prix de Rome in 1745. He used his time at Rome in applying to the study of nature and the development of his own powers all that he gleaned from the masterpieces around him; but his tendencies were so foreign to the reigning taste that, upon his return to Paris, he owed his admission to the academy for his picture Daedalus and Icarus solely to the indignant protests of François Boucher.In 1757, Joseph-Marie Vien married Marie-Thérèse Reboul, a French painter and engraver, who he also may have taught. Their son was born in 1761 and later distinguished himself as a painter as well.
When in 1776, at the height of his established reputation, he was appointed director of the French Academy in Rome, he refused to take Jacques-Louis David with him amongst his pupils, stating he was too old to teach a young artist. After his return, five years later, his fortunes were wrecked by the French Revolution, but he undauntedly set to work, and at the age of eighty carried off the prize in an open government competition. Napoleon Bonaparte acknowledged his merit by making him a senator.
Joseph-Marie Vien died in Paris and was buried in the crypt of the Panthéon. He left behind many brilliant pupils, including François-André Vincent, Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust, Jean-Baptiste Regnault, Joseph-Benoît Suvée, Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours, François-Guillaume Ménageot, and Jean-Joseph Taillasson.