Renowned as a miniaturist in Napoleon’s court, Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767-1855) was a highly gifted artist whose many talents have never been displayed in a major exhibition.
He painted on ivory or enamel, but also executed large portraits in oils and pastels which, in the exhibition, are shown alongside miniatures from public and private collections. Isabey was a first-hand witness to over sixty years of European history and painted sweeping historical scenes with great precision. Note that he was also a decorator (especially at Sèvres and in the Paris Opera House) and an illustrator in the style of the Voyages pittoresques.
When the Congress of Vienna paraded through Isabey’s studio, who could have imagined that the artist had started life in a grocery in Nancy, Talleyrand had commissioned him to paint a conversation piece of the ministers reshaping Europe. Swamped with commissions, the portraitist left his studio for empresses only; other sovereigns came knocking at his door, as was customary at the time.
Isabey’s position was paradoxical: he had linked his fledgling reputation to that of Bonaparte. He had played with the Beauharnais children at Malmaison, and became a sort of master of ceremonies at the Tuileries.He even lent a hand in staging the coronation of Napoléon at Notre-Dame de Paris as is shown by a fine gathering of prints which complements the large painting by David in the Louvre.
All over Europe, Isabey represented the excellence of the French miniaturist school. His reputation was based on admirable ivories painted with gouache, usually set in precious frames or in gold boxes. However, from about 1811, he turned away from ivory and worked on vellum, which was an excellent medium for watercolours and fine sky effects. Emerging from clouds worthy of Raphael, Isabey’s models drew their eternal youth from the gauze swirling about their faces.
