Michel-François Dandré-Bardon

Michel-François Dandré-Bardon studied at Faculté de droit d'Aix-en-Provence and Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Training under Jean-Baptiste van Loo and Jean-François de Troy is recorded. Jean-François Pierre Peyron is recorded as having studied under Michel-François Dandré-Bardon. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history. Places of work recorded in the authority are France. Work by Michel-François Dandré-Bardon is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery of Canada, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

He was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. He signed his name Dandré-Bardon, or D. Bardon, because his uncle, Louis Bardon, made him his heir on condition that he continued the name of Bardon; but his real name was André, as the registers of the church of St. Madeleine testify. Michel François was destined by his parents for jurisprudence, and studied at Paris.

In 1719, he began to design during his leisure hours under the direction of Jean-Baptiste van Loo, and studied painting with J. F. de Troy. His progress was so rapid, that he obtained, in 1725, the second prize at the Royal Academy. He went afterwards to Rome, and after being there six years he returned to France, through Venice, where he stayed six months. He painted the Palais-de-Justice, the Hôtel-de-Ville (which perished in 1792), and the church of St. Jerome, at Aix. The work which he executed of Jason ploughing, intended for the tapestry manufactory at Beauvais, has disappeared.

He died in Paris in 1785.

• The Dead Body of Christ. • Two Dead Children at the entrance of a vault. • The Burial of the Dead. • Johannes Snellinks; after Van Dijck.

• Illustration — Depiction of Christ on the Cross, Eglise du Saint-Esprit à Aix-en-Provence • Illustration — Diana and Endymion, 1726 • Illustration — Adoration des cranes, 1733 • Illustration — Tullie, 1735 • Illustration — Anthichos • Illustration — The Good Works of the Children of Saint-Thomas de Villeneuve • Illustration — Sophonisbe

He went to Paris, where he displayed his talents, not only as a painter and etcher, but also as a poet and writer. In 1735, he became a member of the Academy; in 1752 professor; afterwards secretary; and finally teacher of historical painting. He was also the founder of the Académie des Beaux-Arts at Marseilles. He designed with great facility, and was a perfect master in representing the nude.