Antoine Plamondon

Place: L'ancienne-Lorette

Death: 1895

Biography:

Antoine-Sébastien Plamondon was a Quebec artist who painted mainly portraits and religious images. He was born in L'Ancienne-Lorette, near Quebec City, and studied painting in Paris for four years with such portraitists as Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin. His works include a portrait of Louis-Joseph Papineau, painted in 1836.

Early Life and Training

Plamondon began his artistic training at the age of fifteen, when he was apprenticed to the religious painter Joseph Légaré. He assisted Légaré in restoring a sizable collection of old European paintings which had been gathered by Abbé Louis-Joseph Desjardins and his associates in France. Much of Plamondon's learning period was spent on the restoration of these works. By the time he was twenty-one, he had become a trained artist with a particular aptitude for portrait painting.

Artistic Career

In 1825, Plamondon opened his own studio on the Côte du Palais in Montreal and began undertaking commissions for the churches at Beaumont (1826), Bécancour (1825) and Cap Santé (1825). The following year he met Descheneaux, the Vicar-General of Quebec, who recognized his talent and secured funds for him to study in Paris. In Paris, he became the pupil of Paulin Guérin, portrait painter to Charles X and follower of neo-classic painter Jacques-Louis David (1825), from whom he learned his classical approach to painting. Some of his notable works include:

• Louis-Joseph Papineau, painted in 1836, which can be found at the National Gallery of Canada.
• Sister Saint-Alphonse, which showcases his mastery of early Canadian art.
• Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, painted in 1800, which is a fine example of his portrait painting skills.

Legacy

Today, Plamondon is perhaps most well-known as a portraitist in the neo-classical style. It is estimated that he painted over fifty portraits of the upper bourgeoisie of Quebec City, which included bishops, clerics, parish priests, seigneurs, politicians, doctors, notaries, merchants, businessmen and their families. His works can be found at various museums, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Musée des beaux-arts du Canada. For more information about Plamondon's life and work, you can visit the Wikioo.org or check out his page on Wikipedia.