Sébastien CORNU (1804 -1870)- Portrait of général Charon

Sébastien CORNU (Lyon, 1804 - Longpont, 1870) - Portrait of général Charon

Sébastien Cornu was a pupil of Fleury Richard at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, where he won the first prize for painting in 1820. He worked with Ingres in Paris and Bonnefond in Rome before travelling to the Orient and settling in Paris. After exhibiting various paintings in Lyon from 1826 to 1828, he made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1831 with Une Bacchante (Grenoble). His paintings, which include official portraits, religious and genre scenes, historical, mythological and military subjects, are classical in style, clinically accurate but devoid of character or emotion. In 1857, he painted murals in the church of St-Séverin, in Paris. In 1862, he was appointed director of the Campana collection, which he had negotiated and which was soon integrated into the Louvre.
After Flandrin's death in 1864, he completed the Transfiguration in the north transept of St-Germain-des-Prés and also decorated the chapel of St-François-Xavier.

In this artwork, Cornu depicts Baron Viala Charon (29 July 1794 – 26 November 1880) was a French general and politician. He was governor general of Algeria from 9 September 1848 to 22 October 1850, and was awarded the Military Medal in 1852. He was elevated to the dignity of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour in 1857.