Augustin Alphonse Gaudar de la Verdine

1780 Bourges – 1804 Siena

Little is known of the young, prematurely deceased painter Alphonse Gaudar. He studied in Paris under the history and portrait painter François André Vincent (1746–1816), who probably advised him to go to Rome and study at the Academy there in 1803. Although Gaudar received an award in 1799 for his historical painting Manlius Torquatus Condemning His Son to Death, he died too soon to follow this up with further accomplishments. His was one of the many tragic cases of young, ambitious artists who set off for Italy around 1800 only to die shortly afterwards as a result of illness or other misfortune.