Benjamin Rolland

Benjamin Rolland, or Benjamin de Rolland (23 April 1773, Guadeloupe – 24 March 1855, Grenoble, Isère), was a French history painter and student of David. He held a number of high-profile art appointments, including court painter, museum curator and director, and art academy professor-director.^[1][2]

Benjamin de Rolland
Portrait by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, 1816 Musée de Grenoble
Born	(1773-04-23)23 April 1773 Guadeloupe, French West Indies
Died	24 March 1855(1855-03-24) (aged 81) Grenoble, Isère, France
Nationality	French
Other names	Le déterminé furieux
Education	Jacques-Louis David at the Louvre, Paris
Alma mater	Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Occupations	Portraitist Court painter Museum director Director of Academy of Arts Author
Known for	Painting
Movement	Academic art Neoclassicism French School Romanticism
Patron	Joachim Murat, King of Naples

Biography

Benjamin de Rolland was born on April 23, 1773, in Guadeloupe and was of French Creole descent ^[3][4]and Carcassonne nobility.^[5] He left Guadeloupe around the age of 13 to pursue his education in Paris, France.^[3]

De Rolland befriended and studied with Guillaume Guillon-Lethière at his atelier in Rue Childebert, Saint-Germain-des-Prés,^[3] who brought together a whole French Caribbean society in Paris, under the leadership of Joséphine de Beauharnais, such as General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas and his son, the writer Alexandre Dumas père and Chevalier de Saint-George.

A student of Jacques-Louis David in the late 1790s^[4] before being appointed court painter in 1807 and tutoring King Joachim Murat's children at the Royal Palaces of Caserta and Naples. He painted many neoclassical portraits of members of the royal and aristocratic families.

From 1817 to 1853, he served as the director and curator of the Museum of Grenoble.^[6] De Rolland also directed and taught at the city's School of Painting and Drawing, where his students included the artists Ernest Hébert,^[7] Théodore Fantin-Latour (father of Henri Fantin-Latour), Jules Guédy, Alexandre Debelle, Victor Sappey and Eugénie Chosson du Colombier.^[8]

Benjamin de Rolland exhibited regularly at the Paris Salons, held at the Louvre Palace in 1801, 1806, 1808, 1817, 1819, 1822, and 1824.^[9]

The Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée de Grenoble, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and the Royal Palace of Caserta are among the art institutions that have a number of his paintings in their collections.

Gallery

• Paintings by Benjamin de Rolland
• 
  Achille Murat with the bust of his mother, 1811 (Royal Palace of Caserta)
• 
  Letizia Murat with the bust of her father, 1811 (Royal Palace of Caserta)
• 
  Lucien Murat dancing the tarantella, 1811 (Royal Palace of Caserta)
• 
  Luise Murat dancing the tarantella, 1811 (Royal Palace of Caserta)
• 
  Joachim Murat and his family visit the Ospedale L'Albergo Reale dei Poveri, Naples, 1814
  (Royal Palace of Caserta)
• 
  Mathilde Joséphine Hélène Perier, baronne de Chabaud-Latour, at the age of 15 (1827)
• 
  Exhibition of Grenoble and its Artists in the 19th-century, 2020
  (Musée de Grenoble)

Portrait of Vivant-Jean Brunet-Denon, baron de l'Empire, 1806

Museum collections

• Louvre Museum^[10][11]
• Musée d'Orsay^[12][13]
• Musée de Beaux-Arts de Lyon^[14]
• Musée de Grenoble^[15][16]
• Museo Nacional del Romanticismo, Madrid^[17]
• Palais Fesch-musée des beaux-arts^[18]
• Royal Palace of Caserta^[19][20]
• Musées de Sens
• Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux^[21]
• Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne^[22]
• Musée des Beaux-Arts de Saint-François^[23]
• Certosa di San Martino and Museo Nazionale di San Martino^[24]
• Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome – Museo Mario Praz^[25][26]
• Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau^[27]
• Chateau-musée de Gien, Chasse, histoire et nature en Val-de-Loire^[28]

Iconography

• Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, Portrait of Benjamin de Rolland, 1816. Musée de Grenoble acquisition^[29] from the model in 1847.^[30]
• Eugénie Chosson du Colombier, baronne Pasquier de Franclieu, Portrait of Benjamin de Rolland in his atelier, 1833. Musée de Grenoble acquisition from Mr Claude Auguste Bajat in 1855.^[31]
• Victor Sappey, Bronze medallion sculpture of Benjamin de Rolland, 1830. Musée de Grenoble acquisition from Mr Delage in 1911.^[32]