Jean-Baptiste Isabey

Isabey, the son of a merchant in Nancy, received his initial training as an artist from Jean Girardet and Jean-Baptiste-Charles Cloudot. In 1785, he travelled to Paris, and in 1788, he joined Jacques-Louis David’s studio. In 1791, he married Laurice de Salienne and became a drawing master at Mme Campan’s educational institute in St.-Germain-en-Laye. Isabey not only served Bonaparte’s court as a miniature painter; he was also given various other artistic tasks. He organised festivals, designed scenery for plays, patterns for cashmere shawls, medals for orders of merit (including the Legion of Honour), and costumes for the court and the military, and he also taught drawing to Napoleon’s wives. The emperor honoured the artist with numerous titles: peintre des Cérémonies et des Relations extérieures (1804), peintre dessinateur du Cabinet de S.M. l’Empereur, premier peintre de la Chambre de l’Impératrice (1805), ordonnateur des réjouissances publiques et des fêtes particulières aux Tuileries, dessinateur du sceau des titres, and décorateur en chef des théâtres impériaux (1807/08). From around 1807, Isabey also painted for the porcelain manufactory in Sèvres. In 1815, Napoleon awarded him the medal of the Legion of Honour, in which he received the rank of officer in 1825, and became a commandeur in 1853. Under Louis XVIII, Isabey was given the title of inspecteur dessinateur, ordonnateur des fêtes et spectacles. In 1824, he organised the burial ceremony for Louis XVIII and in 1825, the coronation of Charles X. In 1828, Charles appointed him dessinateur du cabinet et des fêtes et spectacles. After the death of his first wife, Isabey married Rose Maystre in 1829, and in 1834, he received a flat at the Institut and also a lodging in Versailles. In 1837, he became conservateur adjoint des musées royaux. In 1842, he was made an officer of the Belgian Order of Leopold.
Isabey was one of the most famous miniaturists of his time. He painted a large number of important personalities, principally from France, but also from other countries (at the Vienna Congress in 1814). His numerous students included Aubry, Benner, Bertrand, Hesse, Jacques, Lequeutre, Mansion, Millet, Rath, Rochard, Saint, and Singry.