Pierre Henry Prosper Baccuet (30 October 1797,Paris – 28 June 1854, Paris)[1] was a French military officer and landscape painter; known primarily for hisOrientalist scenes.
He was the son of a merchant. In 1813, before he was quite sixteen, he enlisted as aquartermaster in theartillery train of the Garde Napolitaine; a unit of the short-lived NapoleonicKingdom of Naples. By the following year, he had become a sergeant in theChevau-léger (cavalry) of the same unit and, eventually aSous-lieutenant in theline infantry.
After the fall ofJoachim Murat, the nominal King of Naples, his unit was incorporated into the equivalent unit of the French army. From there, he went into the7e régiment de chasseurs à cheval [fr] (another cavalry group) then, in 1820, into the Grenadiers on Horseback guard, who were part of theMaison militaire du roi de France. He became a full Lieutenant in 1827.
That guard was dissolved following theJuly Revolution, but he was recalled to the 10th Regiment ofcuirassiers a year later and was promoted to captain shortly thereafter. He participated in theTen Days' Campaign of 1832, received theLegion of Honor in 1833[2] and retired in 1846.
Parallel to his military career, when he was stationed in Paris, he decided to pursue a long-standing interest in art and studied with the landscape painter,Louis Étienne Watelet. He had his first exhibit at theSalon in 1827, the year he became a lieutenant. The following year, his artistic talents obtained him a position as an official painter with theMorea Expedition, from which he returned with numerous landscapes and sketches.
From 1841 tp 1845, he served in North Africa as a painter/draftsman with theCommission d'exploration scientifique d'Algérie [fr], and participated in an expedition toKabylie. During this time, he painted landscapes, ancient ruins, and scenes depicting the French conquest of Algeria. Towards the end of his time there, he began a correspondence with the art critic,Théophile Gautier, and became his friend.[3]
After returning to Paris, his exhibitions at the Salon included Mediterranean landscapes of Spain and Italy as well as North Africa. Many of these works have made their way into public collections; including theLouvre,Musée des civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée,Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux, theMusée départemental d'Art ancien et contemporain and theMusée d'art moderne André-Malraux.
His works were also used as illustrations in theExploration scientifique de l'Algérie 1844–1867, published by theImprimerie Nationale.
Media related toProsper Baccuet at Wikimedia Commons
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