Joseph-Laurent Malaine (21 February 1745, in Tournai, Austrian Netherlands – 5 May 1809, in Paris) was a flower painter and created cartoons for tapestries as well as designs for wall-papers and textiles.
He adds[5] that "Pierre, premier peintre du Roi, wrote on July 2, 1788 to Comte d'Angiviller to ask him to ratify Laurent Malaine's appointment."
By 1792, we know that he was already working for the Arthur et Grenard (Rue Louis-le-Grand, at the junction with the boulevard des Italiens) wallpaper factory in Paris, and for an "indienne factory in Mulhouse, in Switzerland (Mulhouse was then an independent territory linked to Switzerland)[1]", that of Dollfus père, fils & Cie, founded in 1786, "in whose affairs he was interested and which he was used to visiting", according to Fenaille.
According to Fenaille, "he was invited to evacuate the lodgings he occupied, the minister Roland having reiterated the order on October 11, 1792" because he worked less for the Manufacture than for the wallpaper and indienne factories.
The Prado Museum's website describes him as "A modest painter whose works are few and far between, his compositions are characterized by an elegance and simplicity far removed from the spectacular style that prevailed at the time.
They are distinguished by the natural grace of each plant and a broad, well-felt touch, whose character draftsmen have rightly followed in the finest modern productions.
These natural-sized groups of flowers, sometimes accompanied by fruit and birds, have always, since their appearance, served as a model for artists wishing to make good, complete studies."
He unquestionably played a crucial role in the floral aspect of the most exquisite pieces, such as an overdoor adorned with flowers, fruit, and birds.
The Pop base[30] mentions four wallpapers designed from drawings by Malaine, two for the Manufacture Arthur et Grenard, and two for Hartmann Risler & Cie.[n 11] Several models of wallpaper panels decorated with flowers painted by Malaine for Hartmann Risler et Cie (Rixheim) are held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and can be viewed on Gallica.
The Kassel wallpaper museum has an "Overdoor with a red macaw, green parrot and oak jay" designed by Malaine for Hartmann Risler & Cie.[32] The Bibliothèque Forney, in Paris, owns a piece of wall paper showing a Vase with naturalistic bouquet and fruit basket, also designed for the Manufacture Hartmann Risler, ca 1800.
[n 14] Here is a description of his work by Louis Spach [fr]: "Hofer's drawings ... resembled master paintings, translated onto canvas, with a spiritual touch".
[n 15] The Revue d'Alsace also mentions Henri Hofer as being "attached to the establishment of M. P. Dolfus,[n 16] in Thann, distinguished himself above all by the application of the touch and style of the flower painter his master, in his drawings for painted canvas.
They were daring successes in which he reached a rare level of perfection, such was his taste and facility in execution, and they enabled him to operate a kind of renovation of the art of drawing for printing, getting as close as possible, through the study of nature, to new results with the usual means of Persian illuminations in solid colours.
Among the variety of his work, which embraced all genres, he made , in concert with my father,[n 17] in charge of figures, flower vases, fruit groups, for large drapery furniture.
[n 18] Henri Clouzot also gives some details about Henri Hofer's brother Godefroy, also a student at "les Gobelins" : "At the Wesserling indiennes manufacture, brought the art of charming sofa designs, the secret of which he had learned at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins and which are preserved in Mulhouse's historical museum.