Chassériau, Théodore

Chassériau, Théodore (1819-56). French painter. He was the most gifted pupil of Ingres, whose studio in Rome in entered when he was 11, but in the 1840s he conceived an admiration for Delacroix and attempted, with considerable success, to combine Ingres's Classical linear grace with Delacroix's Romantic color. His chief work was the decoration of the Cour des Comptes in the Palais d'Orsay, Paris, with allegorical scenes of Peace and War (1844-48), but these were almost completely destroyed by fire. There are other examples of his decorative work, however, in various churches in Paris. Chassériau was also an outstanding portraitist and painted nudes and North African scenes (he made a visit there in 1846).

The Tepidarium
1853; Musée d'Orsay, Paris