Jean-Marie Jacomin

Jean-Marie Jacomin was a prominent figure in the Lyon art scene during the early part of the 19th century, his reputation extending to the French capital, where he exhibited portraits and genre scenes at the Paris Salon between 1819 and 1824. These were the years in which Lyon gradually came to be recognised as a flourishing centre of artistic production and when the Lyon school of painting was established by the Troubadour painters, Pierre Révoil and Fleury Richard. The present print provides eloquent testimony to this new self-awareness and self-confidence, which were the hallmarks of the generation that followed. A student of Révoil and Richard at the École des Beaux- Arts in Lyon, Jacomin has placed himself here on the extreme left next to his friends and fellow students from Lyon (from left to right): Jean-Baptiste Chometon (1789–1832), Augustin Thierriat (1789–1870), Jean-Claude Bonnefond (1796–1860), Anthelme Trimolet (1798–1866), Michel Philibert Genod (1796– 1862), Étienne Rey (1789–1867) and François Lepage (1796– 1871). The rare print was published in 1821 at the front of an album lithographique issued by the local Société des Amis des Arts founded the same year to foster and support the local art scene. The album lithographique itself contained works by each of the eight artists portrayed and thus served as a showcase of what the young generation of artists of the Lyon school had to offer. Some traces of handling, minor foxing, slight discolouration of the paper in the bottom right corner below the image, a small fold in the upper right corner, otherwise in excellent condition.