Franz (François) Fleischbein (c. 1801-1868)
1839
Oil on canvas
| The
Children of Comte Louis Amedie de Barjerac Franz (François) Fleischbein (c. 1801-1868) 1839 Oil on canvas |
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| A native of
Godramstein, Bavaria, Franz Fleischbein studied art in
Munich and with Anne-Louis Girodet in Paris. In 1833 he
and his wife, Marie Louise Tetu, immigrated to New
Orleans, where they raised four children. Fleischbein
opened a studio specializing in portrait, historical and
mythological paintings. The strong French culture in the
city encouraged Fleischbein to alter his name from the
German Franz Joseph to the French translation, François
Jacques. With the invention of the daguerreotype in 1839,
his interests turned away from painting toward the medium
of photography. The two little girls in the painting, Laure and Celine, were the daughters of Louis Amedée DeBarjac, a New Orleans commission merchant. The infant was their cousin, Aristée Louis Tissot. Fleischbein painted the elegantly dressed children in an intimate setting around the piano. Although he had some academic training, Fleischbein’s work does not reflect the sophisticated style of French neoclassicists Jean Joseph Vaudechamp and Jacques Amans. |