François-Xavier Fabre (1 April 1766 – 16 March 1837) was a French academic painter of historical subjects and figurative studies.
Born in the lovely French city of Montpellier; Fabre was a loved and dedicated pupil of impressive Jacques-Louis David. Fabre made a name for himself by winning the celebrated Prix de Rome in 1787.
During the French Revolution, Fabre went to live in Florence, becoming a member of the Florentine Academy, where he taught painting. The friends he made in Italy included the dramatist, Vittorio Alfieri, whose widow, Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, Countess of Albany, he is said to have married. On Louise’s death in 1824, he inherited her fortune, which he used to found an art school in his home town. On his own death, he bequeathed his own art collection to the town, forming the basis of the Musée Fabre.
