Louis Gauffier

Born in Poitiers, he studied in Paris with the history painter Hughes Taraval before entering the Prix de Rome competition which he won in 1779 for Christ and the Woman of Canaan.

[2] Gauffier initially settled in Rome, but popular unrest following the execution of Louis XVI led him to flee with his wife to Florence.

He could not receive patronage from France because he was branded a royalist, and this curtailed his career as a history painter.

When French troops occupied Florence in 1799, he began to paint officers' portraits.

An exhibition devoted to his work opened at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier in May 2022 to run until September.

Louis Gauffier's self-portrait with his wife Pauline Châtillon and their children, Louis and Faustina , 1793 (Florence, Palazzo Pitti , Galleria d'arte moderna)