Charles Paul Landon
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Charles Paul Landon (1760 - 1826), French painter and art-author, was born at Nonant.
He entered the studio of Regnault, and won the first prize of the Academy in 1792. After his return from Italy, disturbed by the French Revolution, he seems to have abandoned painting and turned to writing, although he began to exhibit in 1795, and continued to do so at various intervals up to 1814.
Landon-IcarusandDaedalus.jpg
His Leda won an award of merit in 1801, and is now in the Louvre. His Mother's Lesson, Paul and Virginia Bathing, and Daedalus and Icarus have all been engraved.
It is chiefly for his writing on the arts that he will be remembered. He published nearly one hundred volumes during his lifetime.
His biggest work was the Annales du musée et de l'école moderne des beaux-arts. Published between 1808 and 1835 and running to 33 volumes. It forms a comprehensive resource on western art and artists prior to the 19th century. However it is far from perfect. The work has been critised for containing many careless biographical mistakes, lacking critical accuracy and for being illustrated with relatively poor engravings.
Landon also published
- Lives of Celebrated Painters, in 22 volumes
- An Historical Description of Paris, 2 volumes
- Description of London, with 42 plates
along with descriptions of Luxembourg, the Giustiniani collection and of the gallery of the Duchesse de Berry.
Landon died at Paris in 1826.