1743 -1807 · Bruges, Paris, Prix de Rome and Villa Medici

Ancient virtue, clear drawing and eloquent gestures make Joseph Benoît Suvée a major player in the French transition to neoclassicism.

Joseph Benoît Suvée was born in Bruges in 1743 and first trained at the local academy with Matthias de Visch. Based in Paris, he continued his apprenticeship at the Royal Academy and won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1771 ahead of Jacques-Louis David, the starting point of a lasting rivalry. His Italian stay reinforced his interest in Antiquity, the clear composition and the moral value of the gesture. Returning to Paris, Suvée became an academician and professor. Cornélie, mother of the Gracchi, showed her children translated an ancient example into an immediately readable scene: faced with material jewelry, the mother of the Gracchi, showed her children translating an ancient example into an immediately readable scene: faced with material jewelry, the mother of the Gracchi, showed her children translating an ancient example into an immediately readable scene: faced with material jewelry, the mother designated her sons as her true wealth. Achilles places Hector's corpse at the feet of the body on the contrary, de Patroclus concentrates pain, revenge and heroism around two bodies. In both works, architecture, draping and attitudes serve a moral idea without overloading the story. Appointed director of the French Academy in Rome during the Revolution, Suvée could not actually take up his duties until 1801. He installed the institution at the Villa Medici and directed it until his death in 1807, playing an important role in the training of French artists in Italy. The selection "Joseph Benoît Suvée" notably compares Cornélie, mother of the Gracchi, and Achille places Hector's corpse at the feet of Patroclus. His reading favors space.

Suvée organizes Antiquity as a moral demonstration: each body, gaze and drape leads towards the central idea.