ABOUT THE ARTWORK:
A graphite drawing by French artist, Jean Alaux (1785-1864), “Cadmus in Combat with the Dragon,” circa 1830.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Jean Alaux was a successful French artist specializing in history paintings. Doing more than Greco-Roman subjects, Jean Alaux also did religious and historical paintings from the Middle Ages. Alaux was born in the city of Bordeaux and came from humble, yet proud beginnings. His father was his art teacher and trained his son in painting and figurative drawing.
He later studied in Paris and eventually became director of the French Academy in Rome. Alaux left France shortly after the French Revolution. Reasons are still unknown, but they were not political, according to art historians. He later returned, where his career took off. Painting for both the French Republic, and later becoming an important painter during the time of Napoleon too.
