LOUIS HÉCTOR LEROUX: THE PAINTER OF THE LOST WORLD

Image: http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=1300

Accepting the approaching affliction as their fate, the vulnerable women of “Herculaneum” vitalized the appalling history of Roman destruction in a 74×119 inches canvas painted by the French painter Louis Héctor Leroux. The academic style painter was born in Verdun on 27 December 1829. Working as a wigmaker in Verdun, Leroux took a drawing course in the town's art college and won all art prizes.

After receiving a bursary from these prizes, the artist went to Paris for advanced studies and entered the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1849. While studying in the studio of François-Édouard Picot, Leroux produced some copies of illustrations and museum works to supplement his income. In 1857 he won the prestigious Prix de Rome and moved to Rome and stayed there until 1874.

Commissioned by the French state during his sojourn in Rome, Leroux produced the painted copy of Titan's “Sacred and Profane Love”. Afterward, he also worked for Gobelins manufactory and painted the copies of some fine tapestries. Absorbing the art and culture of the rest of the Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Turkey, and Egypt, Leroux turned towards classicism and after 1863 solely painted classical subjects with occasional historical and biblical subjects. His preferred themes were scenes from the ancient world and representations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Father of the painter Laura Leroux, Louis Héctor Leroux died on 11 November 1900 in Angers, France.