LETHIÈRE, Guillaume

French painter. He was the illegitimate son of a white government official in Guadeloupe and a freed black slave. Although his real name was Guillon, as the third child of the family he called himself Letiers, Lethiers and finally, from 1799, when recognized by his father, Lethière. While accompanying his father to France in 1774 Lethière entered the studio of Jean-Baptiste Descamps at the Académie in Rouen, where he won a drawing prize for an académie in 1776.

In 1777 he went to Paris and enrolled at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, studying under Gabriel-François Doyen and winning a first-class medal in July 1782. Lacking influential friends and patrons, before the Prix de RomeGLOSSARYA scholarship, founded concurrently with the French Academy in Rome (1666), that enabled prize-winning students at the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris to spend a period (usually 4 years) in Rome at the state's expense. Prizes for architecture began to be awarded regularly in 1723, and prizes for engravers and musicians were added in the 19th century. The prizes were meant to perpetuate the academic tradition and during the 18th and 19th centuries winning the award was the traditional stepping stone to the highest honours for painters and sculptors. Many distinguished artists (as well as many nonentities) were Prix de Rome winners, notably David, Fragonard, and Ingres among painters and Clodion, Girardon, and Houdon among sculptors. The prizes are still awarded and the system has been adopted by other countries. of 1784 Lethière attempted to attract support by writing to Mme de la Palum (related by marriage to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes), asking her to intercede in his favour with the Premier Peintre du Roi, Jean-Baptiste Pierre). In the Prix, Lethière won second prize with the Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ (Angers, Musée des Beaux-Arts). With its theatrical gestures and delicacy of form, the picture is reminiscent of the religious works of both Doyen and Joseph-Marie Vien.

His entry for the Prix de Rome in 1785, Horatius Killing his Sister (Providence, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design), displays many changes from that of the previous year, and Lethière turned to a Neo-classicalGLOSSARYRelating to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome (classical Antiquity). The classical world played a profoundly important role in the Renaissance, with Italian scholars, writers, and artists seeing their own period as the rebirth (the "renaissance") of classical values after the Middle Ages. The classical world was considered the golden age for the arts, literature, philosophy, and politics. Concepts of the classical, however, changed greatly from one period to the next. Roman literature provided the starting point in the 14th century, scholars patiently finding, editing and translating a wide range of texts. In the 15th century Greek literature, philosophy and art - together with the close study of the remains of Roman buildings and sculptures-expanded the concept of the classical and ensured it remained a vital source of ideas and inspiration. composition deriving from Pierre Peyron and David. He was again unsuccessful in the competition, probably due to some kind of plot or favouritism concerning the eventual winner, Fréderic Jean-Baptiste Desmarais (1756-1813).

In 1786 no prizes at all were awarded because the Académie jury found a disturbing 'similarity of styles' between the entries due to the overwhelming influence of David. Lethière had gravitated towards the Davidian style, and the poet and critic Jean-Baptiste Publicola Chaussard (1766-1823), in his Pausanias français (1806), wrote that, 'Although M Le Thièrs had begun by being the pupil of M Doyen, the school of David claimed him. Messieurs Le Thièrs and Drouais were the first who walked with honour along the paths opened by this great master.' Lethière's painting for the Prix in 1786 is lost, but although he did not win, the diplomat and friend of Louis XVI, Armand-Marc, Comte de Montmorin, persuaded the Académie that he was worthy of the Roman pension. Lethière arrived in Rome and while there painted a copy of Ribera's Deposition (Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts). (He also became one of the few friends of the difficult Jean-Germain Drouais.)

Lethière remained in Rome for several years, and returned to Paris in 1791 to open a painting studio in direct competition with Jacques-Louis David. In 1818 Lethière was finally elected and also awarded the Légion d'honneur, and a year later he became a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts.