Louis Janmot. The Poem of the Soul

Louis Janmot was born on 21 May 1814. According to the rules laid down by the Ministry of Culture, he therefore belongs to the Musée du Louvre. Fortunately, the Musée d’Orsay, to which all artists born after 1820 [1] are theoretically assigned, decided - as it had done in its time with Félicie de Fauveau (see article) and Auguste Préault - to free itself from this overly strict chronological division. He is therefore presenting today (ill. 1) all the eighteen paintings and sixteen large drawings in two complementary cycles that make up his great work, which he called Le Poème de l’âme (Poem of the Soul. These paintings and drawings largely correspond to the period covered by Orsay. They belong to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and are being exhibited together for the first time in Paris, where they were only partially shown in the 19th century and five of the paintings only once in the 20th century.

1. View of the exhibition "Louis Janmot. Le Poème de l’âme" at the Musée d’Orsay
Photo: Didier Rykner

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Janmot, a painter born in Lyon, was a pupil of Ingres for about a year, thus following the example of many of his compatriots. He joined his studio at the end of 1833, but Ingres closed it to leave for Rome, where he became director of the Académie de France. In 1835, Janmot also went to Rome in the company of two other artists from Lyon and pupils in the same studio, Claudius Lavergne and Jean-Baptiste Frénet. There he met not only his master, but also the Flandrin brothers, who like him came from the capital of Gaul and were disciples of Ingres.
Although Ingres’ art had a strong influence on Lavergne and the Flandrin brothers, neither Frénet nor Janmot can be considered true "Ingresques". The exhibition thus shows that the master’s influence was not strong on the painter of Poem of the Soul, despite the welcome comparison with the composition of The Golden Age begun - and never completed - for the Duc de Luynes at…