François-Xavier Fabre

François-Xavier Fabre studied at Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Training under Jacques-Louis David is recorded. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are Montpellier and Florence. Positions recorded include director. Works named in the authority record are Portrait of Henri-Jacques-Guillaume Clarke, Comte d'Hunebourg and Duc de Feltre, Maréchal de l'Empire et Ministre de la Guerre, Portrait of a Man, Musée Fabre and Notice des tableaux et autres objets d'art exposés au Musée Fabre de Montpellier, 1830. Work by François-Xavier Fabre is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Art Institute of Chicago, J. Paul Getty Museum, Uffizi Gallery and National Galleries Scotland. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Legion of Honour and Prix de Rome.

• Name — François-Xavier Fabre • Born — 1 April 1766 • Birthplace — Montpellier, France • Died — 16 March 1837 • Place of death — Montpellier, France • Field — Painting

Born in Montpellier, Fabre was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David, and made his name by winning the Prix de Rome in 1787. During the French Revolution, Fabre went to live in Florence, becoming a member of the Florentine Academy, where he taught painting. The friends he made in Italy included the dramatist, Vittorio Alfieri, whose widow, Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, Countess of Albany, he is said to have married. On Louise's death in 1824, he inherited her fortune, which he used to found an art school in his home town. On his own death, he bequeathed his own art collection to the town, forming the basis of the Musée Fabre. Fabre began his training in Montpellier's art academy, where he spent several years prior to joining Jacques-Louis David's studio in Paris. His studies were paid for by the financier and art collector, Philippe-Laurent de Joubert. Philippe-Laurent was the father of Laurent-Nicolas de Joubert. Fabre painted a portrait of Laurent-Nicolas de Joubert, which is now in the Getty Museum. Fabre gained popularity in Florence. The city's Italian aristocrats and tourists were drawn to his elegance, realism, and precision of his portraits. This popularity earned Fabre a place in the Florentine Academy. He became an art teacher, art collector, and art dealer in Florence. Fabre's works include The Dying Saint Sebastian (1789), The Judgment of Paris (1808), and The Death of Narcissus (1814). Among his pupils in Florence was Emilio Santarelli.

• Illustration — The Dying Saint Sebastian, 1789 • Illustration — The Death of Abel, 1790 • Illustration — Suzanne and the Elders, 1791 • Illustration — Portrait of Vittorio Alfieri, 1793 • Illustration — Portrait of Henry Vassall-Fox, Lord Holland, 1795 • Illustration — Allen Smith Contemplating Across the Arno, 1797 • Illustration — Portrait of Edgar Clarke, 1802 • Illustration — The Judgment of Paris, 1808 • Illustration — Lucien Bonaparte at the Villa Rufinella, 1808 • Illustration — Portrait of Mrs Clarke with her Four Children, 1810 • Illustration — Portrait of Ugo Foscolo, 1813 • Illustration — A View of Florence from the North Bank of the Arno, 1813 • Illustration — The Death of Narcissus, 1814

François-Xavier Fabre is recorded as having received Officer of the Legion of Honour and Prix de Rome.