Jean Preudhomme

Jean Preudhomme or Preud'ho(m)me or Prudhomme (baptised on November 23, 1732 in Rolle; buried on July 20, 1795 in La Neuveville) was a Swiss painter. He was a contemporary of the Swiss painters Anton Graff, Johann Jakob Schalch, Angelica Kauffman, Jakob Emanuel Handmann, Johann Caspar Füssli and his son Johann Heinrich Füssli.

Franz Rudolf Frisching in the uniform of an officer of the Bernese Huntsmen Corps with his Berner Laufhund, painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1785

Life and work

Jean Preudhomme was a pupil of the well known painters Jean Baptiste Le Prince and Jean-Baptiste Greuze in Paris. He was a landscapist and an animal painter. However, his speciality was portrait painting. In Switzerland he was very popular with the landed gentry and the patricians in Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Berne. In a Swiss publication, published between 1782 and 1786, he was described as a “portraitist à la mode”.[1] Preudhomme's paintings, especially the portraits, are rare on the art market. His portrait of Franz Rudolf Frisching is one of his best known paintings.

Paintings in public collections

Preudhomme's portrait of Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton, on his Grand Tour with his Physician Dr John Moore and the latter's son John, with a view of Geneva in the distance, is in the collection of the National Museums of Scotland.[2] On his Grand Tour the Duke and his companions stayed for two years in Geneva.[3]

A portrait of a Lady is in the collection of the Musée Rath.[1]

Literature
  • Brun, Schweizerisches Künstlerlexikon

References
  1. Staatsarchiv Bern: Schweizerisches Künstlerlexikon, Band I, S. 574
  2. Art Fund UK: This painting was acquired with the help of the Art Fund for the National Museums of Scotland in 1992. The Art Fund paid £ 10.000. The total price of the painting was £ 125.000
  3. J. C. Moore: Life of Sir John Moore, London, 1834 (James Carrick Moore (1763–1834) was another brother of Sir John Moore)
  • "Preudhomme, Jean". SIKART Lexicon on art in Switzerland.
  • Portrait of Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton, and his companions during their stay in Geneva. Painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1774
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