1777 -1860 · Paris, neoclassicism and sensitivity of the Restoration

Davidian drawing, contained emotion and elegant portrait place Louis Hersent on the transition from neoclassicism to French romanticism.

Louis Hersent was born in Paris in 1777. Trained in the entourage of Jean-Baptiste Regnault and marked by the drawing of Jacques-Louis David, he won the second Prix de Rome in 1797 and spent a stay in Italy. His first paintings, like Narcissus mirrored in water, belong to neoclassical culture: firm contours, studied bodies and stories from Antiquity. From the Empire then under the Restoration, Hersent softened this language. He painted historical, literary and sentimental scenes where light, landscape and gestures introduce a new emotion. From the Empire then under the Restoration, Hersent softened this language. He painted historical, literary and sentimental scenes where light, landscape and gestures introduce a new emotion. From the Empire then under the Restoration, Hersent softened this language. He painted historical, literary and sentimental scenes where light, landscape and gestures introduce a new emotion. From the Empire then under the Restoration, Hersent softened this language. He painted historical, literary and sentimental scenes where light, landscape and gestures introduce a new emotion. From the Empire then under the Restoration, Hersent softened this language. He painted historical, literary and sentimental scenes where light, landscape and gestures introduce a new emotion. From the Empire then under the Restoration, Hersent softened this travelers in an Alpine environment: charity, cold and natural danger bring the picture closer to romantic drama. Hersent also became a sought-after portrait painter. His royal and bourgeois figures combined elegance of costume, flexible modeling and psychological attention. Member of the Institute in 1822 then professor at the School of Fine Arts in 1825, he trained numerous artists, including Louis Godefroy Jadin. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, was also a painter and founded a school for women. His wife Louise Hersent, née Mauduit, mount Gotthard Hospice. His reading favors composition.

Hersent softens David's rigor: the drawing remains firm, but the landscape, the light and the feeling already open up romanticism.