Charles Louis Müller

Young Lady with Tambourine (by 1892)

Charles Louis Müller [also known as Müller de Paris] (Paris 22 December 1815 – 10 January 1892 Paris) was a French painter.

Biography

He was the pupil of Léon Cogniet, Baron Gros and others in the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1837 he exhibited his first picture, Christmas Morning. From 1850 to 1853 he directed the manufactory of Gobelin tapestries. In 1864 he became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France, succeeding Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin.

Works

He was a fecund producer of historic pictures and portraits. Among his works are “Heliogabalus” (1841), “Primavera” (1846), “Haydée”^{[lower-alpha 1]} (1848), “Lady Macbeth,” and his masterpiece, “Calling Out the Last Victims of the Reign of Terror at the Prison of Saint-Lazare” (“Appel des dernières victimes de la Terreur dans la prison de Saint-Lazare,” with portraits of the most illustrious victims).^{[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 4]} Also notable are “Vive l'Empereur,” awarded a medal of the first class, it is based on a poem by Méry about an episode in the battle before Paris, March 30, 1814 (1855), “Marie Antoinette” (1857), “A Mass During the Reign of Terror” (1863), “Desdemona” (1868), “Lanjuinais at the Tribune” (1869), “The Madness of King Lear” (1875), “Charlotte Corday in Prison”^{[lower-alpha 5]} (1875), “Mater Dolorosa” (1877), “The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew” and “The Massacre of the Innocents.”

He executed frescoes for the Salle d'État in the Louvre,^{[lower-alpha 6]} and for the ceiling of the Salon Denon, which still exist.^{[lower-alpha 7]}

Evaluation

As a painter, he is more to be commended for clever drawing and composition than for his somewhat flat and mediocre coloring.

Gallery

Paintings by Charles Müller

Painting, "Calling Out the Last Victims of the Terror at Saint Lazare Prison on the 7-9 Thermidor, Year II [25-27 July 1794]" (circa 1845?)  The Madness of Haydée, scene from The Count of Monte Cristo (1848)  "Arrival of the Queen of England at the Palace of Saint Cloud" (1855)  Ceiling of the Salon Denon with frescoes by Müller (1863-1866)  The Tribunal of the National Convention (1868)  The Betrothed (by 1892)

Notes

1. In the Lille Museum.
2. The last two are in the Luxembourg.
3. John Jacob Astor IV had a replica of the last in his collection.
4. "Appel des dernières victimes de la Terreur à la prison Saint Lazare". Réunion du Musées Nationaux - Grand Palais (in French). Retrieved 12 July 2014.
5. In the Corcoran Gallery of Washington, D.C.
6. According to French Wikipedia (visited 22 March 2013), these works were all destroyed by fire, and the Mona Lisa resides in that location now.
7. According to French Wikipedia (visited 12 July 2014), painted between 1863 and 1866, representing four important French sovereigns prior to Napoleon III (also, see External Links for direct link to Louvre description).

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Müller, Charles Louis". Encyclopedia Americana.
•  Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Müller, Charles Louis". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
•  Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Müller, Charles Louis". The American Cyclopædia.

External links

• "Charles-Louis MÜLLER". cartelfr.louvre.fr. Retrieved 16 May 2011. Decoration for the ceiling of the Denon room at the Louvre, commissioned in 1862, executed 1863-1866.