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Michel Garnier

painter

Michel Garnier

French explorer and painter (1753-1829)

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Also known as Mons. Garnier, Garnier

Michel Garnier

French explorer and painter (1753-1829)

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Michel Garnier was a French painter of genre scenes, portraits, and botanical still lifes. He was active primarily between 1781 and 1814, receiving patronage from the French nobility before participating as a scientific illustrator in the Baudin expedition to the Southern Seas.

Occupation: painter, scientific illustrator
Citizenship: France
Born: 1753
Died: 1829

Portrait of Philippe of Orléans as with the insigniae of the Grand Orient de Franceknown for Gust of Wind on the Pont Royalknown for Le Départ du dragonknown for The Letterknown for The Poorly Defended Roseknown for Francecountry of citizenship

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Michel Garnier (21 January 1753 – 22 December 1829) was a French painter of genre scenes, portraits, and botanical still lifes. He was active primarily between 1781 and 1814, receiving patronage from the French nobility before participating as a scientific illustrator in the Baudin expedition to the Southern Seas.

Contents

Biography

Early life and patronage

Garnier was active between 1781 and 1814; few documents detail his life and works. Garnier's father was employed as a floor polisher (frotteur) by Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, at the Château de Saint-Cloud. Garnier began his career working for the royal household. His earliest known work, dated 1781, is a portrait of the Duke of Orléans.

Also known as Mons. Garnier, Garnier

Born

1753

Died

1829

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Michel Garnier was a French painter of genre scenes, portraits, and botanical still lifes. He was active primarily between 1781 and 1814, receiving patronage from the French nobility before participating as a scientific illustrator in the Baudin expedition to the Southern Seas.

Occupation: painter, scientific illustrator
Citizenship: France
Born: 1753
Died: 1829

Portrait of Philippe of Orléans as with the insigniae of the Grand Orient de Franceknown for Gust of Wind on the Pont Royalknown for Le Départ du dragonknown for The Letterknown for The Poorly Defended Roseknown for Francecountry of citizenship

Related journals

Connected

Portrait of Philippe of Orléans as with the insigniae of the Grand Orient de France Gust of Wind on the Pont Royal Le Départ du dragon The Letter The Poorly Defended Rose France

Article

Michel Garnier (21 January 1753 – 22 December 1829) was a French painter of genre scenes, portraits, and botanical still lifes. He was active primarily between 1781 and 1814, receiving patronage from the French nobility before participating as a scientific illustrator in the Baudin expedition to the Southern Seas.

Contents

Biography

Early life and patronage

Garnier was active between 1781 and 1814; few documents detail his life and works. Garnier's father was employed as a floor polisher (frotteur) by Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, at the Château de Saint-Cloud. Garnier began his career working for the royal household. His earliest known work, dated 1781, is a portrait of the Duke of Orléans.

He later entered the studio of the painter Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre. Beginning around 1785, Garnier painted small-scale domestic genre scenes in le goût hollandais (the Dutch taste), a style at the end of the Ancien Régime that imitated the aesthetic of 17th-century Dutch masters.

The French Revolution

The outbreak of the French Revolution did not significantly disrupt Garnier's career. Following the abolishment of the Académie Royale's monopoly, Garnier exhibited his paintings at the Paris Salon in 1791, alongside other non-academic painters of the era. He continued to exhibit at the Salon until 1814, displaying genre subjects similar to contemporaries like Marguerite Gérard and Louis-Léopold Boilly.

The Baudin expedition and Mauritius

Between 1801 and 1810, Garnier resided in Isle de France (now Mauritius). He arrived on the island through his participation in the Baudin expedition (1800–1803), a French scientific voyage to the Southern Seas led by Nicolas Baudin. Garnier traveled as a passenger on the corvette Le Naturaliste. In 1801, during a stopover at Isle de France, Garnier and several other artists and scientists left the expedition due to failing health.

During his stay in Mauritius, Garnier painted still lifes of local fruits and botanicals. Upon his return voyage to France in 1810, his ship was captured by the British Royal Navy. He lost most of his possessions but retained his botanical paintings. He made unsuccessful attempts to sell these works to the French state before his death.

Selected works

Garnier's works are held in public collections in France and the United States.

Public collections

Philippe d'Orléans as Grand Master of the Freemasons (c. 1777) – Musée Condé, Chantilly.

The Meeting (La Rencontre) – Musée Antoine-Lécuyer, Saint-Quentin.

The Interrupted Marriage Contract (Le Contrat de mariage interrompu, 1784–1794) – Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

A Merveilleuse under the Arcades of the Palais Royal (1787) – Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

The Letter (1791) – Minneapolis Institute of Art.

The Painter's Studio (L'Atelier du peintre, 1793–1794) – Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Étienne.

Gust of Wind on the Pont Royal (1799) – Dallas Museum of Art.

Scene of Reproach (Scène de reproches) – Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon.

Botanical Studies (e.g., Cocos nucifera, Myristica fragrans) – Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris.

Auction history

The Departure of Monsieur de Saint-Marc for the Battle of Fontenoy (1788) – Oil on canvas, sold at Christie's Paris on 26 June 2002.

Hide and Seek and The Music Lesson (1788/1789) – A pair of panel paintings exemplifying his Dutch-style genre scenes.

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