Francois Joseph Navez (16 November 1787 - 12 October 1869), French Neoclassical painter, worked mainly in Brussels.
Musical Group, The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts
After studying at the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Navez won first prize at the 1812 Ghent Salon and a little later received a grant which allowed him to leave for Paris. There he was one of the students of Jacques-Louis David, with whom he returned in 1816 to Brussles, where David was exiled. Strongly influenced by him, especially regarding his techniques and naturalism, Navez was also an admirer of the paintings made by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, which he discovered in Italy, where he stayed between 1817 - 1821.
He was deeply disapointed upon returning to Brussels, because he was considered only a minor portait and genre painting, so he focused on history paintings, which would eventually brought his fame. Even if the fact that he had been a student of David didn't gain him much favour in Brussels, where Romanticism was in fashion, Navez continued working. After a while he was a popular and influential painter, and even gained the position of director for the Brussels Academy in 1830. He worked for a while in a different style, influenced by Romanticism. In 1851 he was shocked by the Realist works presented at the Brussels Salon, and gave up participating to exhibitions. Navez continued to paint, and resigned from his position at the Academy in 1859. He lost his sight and his hearing, and for the last years of his life he devoted himself to corresponding with his friends and other artists. These letters, those sent by the artist (which he dictated ) and those received, are now rare and precious documents of the artistic life in the 19th century.
