Louis Gauffier

Louis Gauffier (1762–1801) was a French painter. Born in Poitiers, he studied in Paris with the history painter Hughes Taraval before entering the Prix de Rome competition which he won in 1779 (La Cananéenne aux pieds de Jésus-Christ). Apart from a brief return to Paris in 1789 he remained in Italy for the remainder of his life.

Louis Gauffier's self-portrait with his wife Pauline Châtillon and their children, Louis and Faustina, 1793 (Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Galleria d'arte moderna)

In March 1790, he married his pupil Pauline Chatillon, who was herself a well-known painter.[1] The couple had two children, including the future Italian miniaturist painter Faustina Malfatti (1792-1837).[2]

Gauffier initially settled in Rome, but popular unrest following the execution of Louis XVI led him to flee with his wife to Florence. He could not receive patronage from France because he was branded a royalist, and this curtailed his career as a history painter. Instead, he painted landscapes, which he sold to English tourists. When French troops occupied Florence in 1799, he began to paint officers' portraits.

Gauffier died in Livorno (Tuscany) 1801.

Works
  • Rest on the Flight into Egypt, oil on canvas. (1793)
  • Portrait of Dr. Thomas Penrose, oil on canvas. (1798)
  • Swedens minister at the "Courts of Italy" (1793-1836), Johan Claes Lagersvärd, painted in Swedish diplomatic uniform with the Royal Order of Vasa around his neck. In the background is a bust of king Gustav IV Adolf, and through the window one can see Florence Cathedral. (1799)

References
  1. Marmottan, Paul (1926). Le peintre Louis Gauffier (in French). p. 6.
  2. "Malfatti, Faustina". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  • Philip Conisbee, Sarah Faunce, and Jeremy Strick. In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting. New Haven; Yale University Press, 1996.


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