View source for Jacques François Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines

{{Short description|French painter and draughtsman}}
[[File:Boilly-Swebach-Desfontaines.jpg|thumb|215px|Portrait of Swebach-Desfontaines, by [[Louis-Léopold Boilly]]]]
'''Jacques François Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines''', known as '''Fontaine''' (19 March 1769, [[Metz]] - 10 December 1823, [[Paris]]) was a French painter and designer. He is best known for his [[Genre art|genre]] and  battle scenes.
== Biography ==
He first learned painting from his father François Louis Swebach-Desfontaines (1749-1793), a self-taught amateur artist and a Member of the Scientific Society of Metz who illustrated ''Histoire naturelle : ou, Exposition des morceaux, les mieux choisis pour servir à l'étude de la minéralogie et de la cristallographie''. Jacques François then studied with [[Joseph Duplessis]] in Paris.<ref>Jules Belleudy, ''J.-S. Duplessis, peintre du roi, 1725-1802'', Durand, 1913 [https://archive.org/details/jsduplessispeint00bell/page/308/mode/2up Online]</ref> In the late 1780s, he frequented the woods near the [[Château de Fontainebleau]], with [[Lazare Bruandet]] and [[Georges Michel (painter)|Georges Michel]], painting landscapes.<ref>Raphaël Aracil de Dauksza and Damien Dumarquez, ''Peintures du 19th century'', Galerie La Nouvelle Athènes, 2020</ref>
During the [[French Revolution|Revolution]], his paintings were of a patriotic nature; notably ''The Young Darruder'' and ''[[Joseph Agricol Viala]]'', both engraved by {{ill|Charles-Melchior Descourtis|fr}}. In 1798, he exhibited six troop and battle scenes at the [[Salon (Paris)|Salon]].<ref name="salon1798">''Explication des ouvrages de peinture et dessins sculptures, architecture et gravure, Exposés au Muséum central des Arts'', Impr. des sciences et des arts, 1798. [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10523697t/f70.item Online]</ref>
He was a designer and painter for the [[Manufacture de Sèvres]] from 1802 to 1813, where he was praised for his speedy execution. His battle scenes with horses were especially popular. He also worked for [[Dihl and Guérhard porcelain]] in 1806.<ref>Régine Plinval de Guillebon, ''La manufacture de porcelaine de Guérhard et Dihl, dite du duc d'Angoulême'', The French porcelain society, 1988. [https://www.thefrenchporcelainsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/La-Manufacture-de-Porcelaine-de-Gue%CC%81rhard-et-Dihl-dit-du-Duc-d%E2%80%99Angoule%CC%82me-%E2%80%93-IV-1988.pdf Online]</ref> That same year,  he participated in creating the {{ill|Service encyclopédique de la manufacture de Sèvres|fr|lt="Service Encyclopédique"}}; a table service commissioned by [[Napoleon]] to reward his Secretary of State, [[Hugues Bernard Maret]], for managing the wedding arrangements of [[Stéphanie de Beauharnais]] and Charles, the future [[Charles, Grand Duke of Baden|Grand Duke of Baden]]. It is currently on display at the [[Louvre Museum]].<ref>Anne Dion-Tenenbaum, "Tout savoir du service encyclopédique", in ''Grande Galerie, Le Journal du Louvre'', Number 40, 2017</ref>
From 1815 to 1817, he worked in [[St. Petersburg]], directing the [[Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg|Imperial Porcelain Factory]], later known as the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory.
He was married to Antoinette-Prudence Pujolle and they had two sons, one of whom, [[Bernard-Édouard Swebach]], was also a painter.
== Selected works ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
Jacques François Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines - Army on the March - 1916.170.1 - Reading Public Museum.jpg|Army on the March
Jacques-François Swebach-Desfontaines, Un marché aux chevaux, 1793 - Musée de la Révolution française.jpg|A Horse Market
Assiette du service encyclopédique de la manufacture de Sèvres.jpg|Plate from the Service Encyclopédique
Jacques François Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines - Pillage d'une église pendant la révolution - P317 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg|Decommissioning a Church
File:Darruder.jpeg|The drummer Darruder, avenging his father who was shot by the [[War in the Vendée|Vendéens]]
</gallery>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* Anne Dion-Tenenbaum and Tamara Préaud, ''Le Service encyclopédique de la manufacture de Sèvres'', Somogy, 2010, {{ISBN|978-2-7572-0423-8}}
== External links ==
{{commonscat|Jacques François Joseph Swebach-Desfontaines}}
* [https://www.artnet.com/artists/jacques-fran%C3%A7ois-joseph-swebach-desfontaines/ More works by Swebach-Desfontaines] @ ArtNet
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[[Category:18th-century French painters]]
[[Category:19th-century French painters]]
[[Category:French draughtsmen]]
[[Category:Artists from Metz]]
[[Category:1769 births]]
[[Category:1823 deaths]]