Jean-Léonard Lugardon
Born in 1801.
Died in 1884.
Jean-Léonard Lugardon (1801–1884) was a Genevan painter active in history painting, portraiture and genre scenes. The son of a watchmaker and a milliner, he received his first drawing lessons at the Société des Arts de Genève. He continued his training in Paris under Antoine-Jean Gros from 1820 to 1822, and then in Italy: a pupil of Ingres in Florence, he stayed in Rome from 1826 to 1829.
Lugardon exhibited in Geneva from 1823 onwards and, the following year, won the competition for national history painting. From 1827, he took part in the Salons du Louvre, where his work was recognised with medals and commissions from Louis-Philippe. These Parisian successes accompanied a regular presence in Swiss and foreign exhibitions.
From 1836 to 1843, he directed Geneva’s school of figure drawing; among his pupils was Barthélemy Menn. His role in local artistic training was complemented by a public career: he served on the Geneva Representative Council from 1837 to 1842. A member of the Société des Arts and subsequently of the Institut national genevois, Lugardon ranks among the important representatives of nineteenth-century Genevan Romantic painting.
Works are held, notably, at the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève, the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel and the Palace of Versailles.
