Isabey, JEAN BAPTISTE,

Isabey, JEAN BAPTISTE, French portrait-painter, was born at Nancy on 11th April 1767, and studied under David. He painted portraits of several of the notabilities of the Revolution, as Saint-Just, Barrère, Collot d'Herbois, and others. Afterwards he became court-painter to Napoleon, and painted him and most of his generals, and important events in his life. After Napoleon's fall Isabey worked for the Bourbon sovereigns. He excelled also as a miniature-painter and as a painter on porcelain. His 'Isabey's Boat' (1796), 'Review of Troops by the First Consul' (1804), 'Members of the Congress of Vienna' (1815), and 'Staircase of the Paris Museum,' a water-colour (1817), are his most important compositions apart from portraits. He died at Paris, 18th April 1855. His son, Eugène (1804-86), was a clever historical painter.