René Théodore Berthon

René Théodore Berthon (1776–1859) was a French painter of religious and historical subjects, and of portraits.

The Capture of Malta in 1530 by Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Knights Hospitaller, now at the Palace of Versailles.

Life

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Berthon was born at Tours in 1776, and studied under David. He painted scriptural and historical subjects, and a large number of portraits, which, although of no great merit, gained him a certain reputation in the days of the first empire and the restoration. Among his portraits are those of Napoleon I when First Consul, Pauline Bonaparte, Mademoiselle Duchesnois, and Lady Morgan. Several of his historical pictures are at Versailles. He died in Paris in 1859.[1]

His daughter, Sidonie Berthon, a miniature painter, was a pupil of her father and of Mme de Mirbel. She was born in Paris in 1817, and died in 1871.[1]

 
Lady Morgan, portrait, now at the National Gallery of Ireland.

His son, George Théodore Berthon, was a portrait artist who emigrated to England and then to Canada.

References

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Sources

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  •   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainBryan, Michael (1886). "Berthon, René Théodore". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). Vol. I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.