Fort sous la neige.

Isidore Pils prints show the skill of a French academic painter who turned his hand to everything from church murals to battlefields. Pils is best known for Rouget de Lisle Singing La Marseillaise, and he painted the French army in Crimea, Algeria and the siege of Paris. This collection gathers art prints of his military sketches, scenes of Paris in 1870–71, Algerian studies, designs for the Paris Opéra and fine drapery and figure studies.

About Isidore Pils

Isidore Pils was born in Paris on 7 November 1815, the son of a soldier who served under Marshal Oudinot. Around the age of twelve he began four years of study with Guillaume Guillon-Lethière, and in 1831 entered the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied under François-Édouard Picot.

In 1838 he won the Prix de Rome with Saint Peter Healing a Lame Man and spent three years at the Villa Medici in Rome, then directed by Ingres, despite poor health. His early paintings were religious, but after traveling with French troops to Crimea in 1854–55 he turned to military subjects. In 1849 he completed his most famous painting, Rouget de Lisle Singing La Marseillaise.

Pils was appointed professor of painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1863 and spent two years in Algeria. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts and recorded scenes of the siege of Paris in 1870–71. His last major commission was part of the ceiling of the grand staircase of the Paris Opéra. He died at Douarnenez in Brittany on 3 September 1875.

Style and Subjects

Pils was a careful academic draftsman with a lively eye for real life. His military pictures show soldiers in camp, on horseback and at work, drawn with sympathy rather than glory. During the siege of Paris he sketched the city's bastions, streets and ruins as events unfolded.

In Algeria he painted encampments, horsemen and Kabyle people in bright North African light. He also produced religious murals for Paris churches and allegorical ceilings for the Opéra, for which he made many beautiful drapery and figure studies.

Famous Works

• Rouget de Lisle Singing La Marseillaise (1849), Musée historique de Strasbourg. The first performance of the French national anthem, his most famous painting.
• The Death of a Sister of Charity (c. 1850), Musée des Augustins, Toulouse. A deeply felt religious scene.
• An Arab Encampment (1861). A camp in Algeria in clear North African light.
• Sketch for "Reception of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie by the Kabyle Leaders at Algiers" (1864), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A grand ceremonial scene in Algiers.
• La Lessive, Place Pigalle, March 1871. Daily life in Paris after the siege.
• Ruins of the Tuileries Palace. The burned-out palace after the Paris Commune.
• The Triumph of Apollo, design for the Opéra Garnier. A study for his ceiling at the Paris Opéra.

Decorating with Pils Prints

Pils's military sketches and siege scenes suit a study, library or hallway with a classic or historical feel. Their soft earth tones and lively drawing look handsome in dark wood or black frames.

His Algerian scenes add warmth to a living room, and his drapery studies and Opéra designs make an elegant gallery wall for a dressing room or creative studio.

FAQ

What art movement was Isidore Pils part of?

Pils was a French academic painter, trained at the École des Beaux-Arts. He painted religious, military and Orientalist subjects.

What is Isidore Pils's most famous painting?

Rouget de Lisle Singing La Marseillaise (1849), now in the Musée historique de Strasbourg, is his best-known work. It shows the first performance of the French national anthem.

Where can I see Pils's original work?

His paintings are in the Musée historique de Strasbourg, the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, the Musée Carnavalet and the Louvre, and his ceiling decorations are in the Paris Opéra.

How can you recognize an Isidore Pils picture?

Look for careful academic drawing combined with lively scenes of real life, especially soldiers, horses, Algerian encampments and Paris during the siege of 1870–71.

Did Pils work on the Paris Opéra?

Yes. He painted part of the ceiling of the grand staircase of the Palais Garnier, including Apollo in His Chariot and The Triumph of Harmony, completed in the year he died.

Related Artists

• Guillaume Guillon-Lethière — his first teacher
• François-Édouard Picot — his teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts
• Ernest Meissonier — fellow French painter of soldiers and military life
• Alphonse de Neuville — painter of the Franco-Prussian War
• Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille — leading French military painter of the next generation