{"id":33835,"date":"2024-09-09T21:45:21","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T20:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=33835"},"modified":"2026-01-14T23:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:40:05","slug":"from-the-paris-salon-to-london-theatre-the-story-of-philippe-jacques-de-loutherbourg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/from-the-paris-salon-to-london-theatre-the-story-of-philippe-jacques-de-loutherbourg\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Paris Salon to London Theatre: the Story of Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg. Landscape with Figures and Animals. 1763. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool \/ Wikimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c<\/span>A strange phenomenon! A young painter of twenty-two, who shows up, and immediately places himself in line with Berchem!\u201d, that was how famous French art-critic Denis Diderot described Loutherbourg\u2019s debut at the Salon of Paris Royal Art Academy in 1763. That comparison was very flattering, because at the time Nicolaes Berchem, the master of the 17th-century Dutch idyllic landscape, was immensely popular in France. On the other hand, Diderot praised Loutherbourg\u2019s individuality, highlighting \u00abthe strength of his colours\u00bb and his artistic observations \u2014 the qualities that predicted a brilliant career in France for the young artist.<\/span><\/p>\n

In many ways, those aspects stemmed from Loutherbourg\u2019s diverse education. He learned painting from the best masters of that period \u2014 Chalers van Loo, Johann Wille and Francesco Casanova \u2014 from whom he borrowed the most glamorous schemes. By synthesising these ideas in his art, he created rather genuine compositions. The most popular ones were his landscapes. In those works, Loutherbourg mixed the elements of the genre painting (elegant scenes of rural life), theatrical images of nature (\u201cbackdrops\u201d of green hills, piling on each other) and vast sky expanses, where he displayed his skills in depicting the lighting effects. Those atmospheric motifs derived from Loutherbourg\u2019s \u201c<\/span>plein ai<\/span>r\u201d excursions across Europe. In particular, he travelled to the south of France, Italy and Switzerland.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg. Landscape with Animals. 1767. Museum of Fine Arts, Strasbourg \/ Wikimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indeed, by the mid-1760s, Loutherbourg became one of the most acknowledged young painters in France. The artistic expression of his works, as well as his prolificacy, brought him the status of an Academy Member in 1771. At that year\u2019s Salon, he was among the most well-represented participants. Loutherbourg exhibited 25 works in various genres: domestic scenes, idyllic landscapes, \u201cshipwrecks\u201d, historical battles, etc. Paradoxically, that was the exact time, when he made arguably the most important decision in his life. A few months after the Salon\u2019s opening, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg moved to London, where he started a new chapter of his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg. David Garrick as Don John in The Chances by John Fletcher, adapted by George Villiers. 1774. Victoria & Albert Museum, London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Loutherbourg\u2019s first project in the capital was the job at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he was invited by the manager David Garrick. Today, this figure is considered one of the main reformists of English theatre in the 18th century, and Loutherbourg\u2019s ideas corresponded perfectly to his progressive agenda. The artist designed stage sets for Garrick, which vividly embodied the dynamics and expressions common in his painting. Instead of static backdrops, he suggested using movable painted panels and silk screens with picturesque landscapes. Furthermore, Loutherbourg enhanced the practices at Drury-Lane by introducing technical innovations. He actively implemented top lights, fireworks, huge, life-scale models, as well as machines that produced artificial snow and mist. Along with landscapes\u2019 illusionism, those devices created a truly dramatic and immersive action on the stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Edward Francis Burney. A view of Philip James de Loutherbourg’s \u201cEidophusikon\u201d. C. 1782. British Museum, London \/ The Trustees of the British Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The further development of Loutherbourg\u2019s talent in stage design took place within his later independent projects. After the dispute with Drury-Lane\u2019s new manager Richard Brinsley Sheridan, he left his place and began to develop the idea of a small-scale mechanical theatre called Eidophusikon (which means \u201can image of nature\u201d in Greek). Remarkably, the repertoire of the artists\u2019 new endeavour was composed solely of landscape images. On the Eidophusikon\u2019s stage, one could see rather a chamber, but very eloquent nature scenes (e. g. seashores or mountains) represented in their most picturesque and dramatic manifestations (sunsets, dawns, storms and avalanches). Due to the dynamic lighting and moving machinery, those compositions obtained peculiar expressiveness. Loutherbourg\u2019s enterprise was highly <\/span>appraised<\/span> by wealthy Londoners and many of his colleagues, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Thomas Gainsborough. Show box and the Wooded Moonlight Landscape, created for it. \u0421. 1781-1782. Victoria & Albert Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gainsborough, in particular, was so inspired by Eidophusikon, that he started to make such spectacular objects himself. In the 1780s, he designed \u201cpeep-show boxes\u201d, where a landscape painted on a glass surface was illuminated through a magnifying lens and several coloured filters. Viewers watched those landscapes through a tiny hole that created a certain effect of presence and immersion.<\/span><\/p>\n

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An Avalanche in the Alps 1803 Philip James De Loutherbourg 1740-1812 Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1965 http:\/\/www.tate.org.uk\/art\/work\/T00772<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Philippe de Loutherbourg\u2019s influence on English art spread not only in the sphere of performative spectacles but also in painting. Working in London, he continued to create pieces in multiple genres, and that \u201cportfolio\u201d provided him with an opportunity to enter the Royal Academy in 1781. Interestingly, his ideas in painting (as well as in theatre) corresponded directly with the latest tendencies and, to some extent, even shaped them. In many of his landscapes painted in England, Loutherbourg substantially developed his monumental and emotional imagery of nature. At their forefront he often placed the effects of untamed elements: flames of a blast furnace or a city fire, surging masses of an avalanche, waterfalls, etc. Finding themselves amid those colossal natural phenomena, viewers were completely overwhelmed by their turbulence and magnificent pathos.
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Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg. The Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen. 1788. Victoria & Albert Museum, London
William Turner. Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen. C. 1805-1806. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this sense, Loutherbourg is often regarded as one of the English proto-romanticists of the late 18th century. The subject of compelling natural forces that occurred in the works of those masters anticipated the major ideas of the next century\u2019s art. For instance, Loutherbourg\u2019s later \u201celemental\u201d landscapes, such as <\/span>The Falls of the Rhine<\/span> (1788) and <\/span>Avalanche<\/span> (1803), made an impact on many young masters. For example, the explicit interpretations of those works can be found in the art of William Turner, one of the greatest English landscape artists of the 19th century.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg. The Destruction of Pharaoh\u2019s Army. 1790s. Art Institute Chicago
Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg. The Flood. 1790s. Victoria & Albert Museum, London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to romantic landscapes, Loutherbourg also painted history scenes with a similar pathos. Among them, his Old Testament scenes of the 1790s are particularly notable. Most of those paintings survived only in engravings made for \u201cMacklin’s Holy Bible\u201d, one of the largest projects of the time. Its publisher, Thomas Macklin sought to reform English history painting and to actualise the visuality of the Bible. Loutherbourg\u2019s compositions seemed to be quite in tune with those ambitions. Not only did the artist create the relevant image of a romantic character, commanding the forces of nature (i. e. Moses in The Destruction of Pharaoh\u2019s Army scene), but he also presented references to the textbook images of European art, likening the Prophet\u2019s figure to Michelangelo\u2019s statues. Despite the rather modest success of Macklin\u2019s project, today, Loutherbourg\u2019s compositions (he executed more than 20 paintings) constitute a major milestone in English artistic heritage. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Painting, Coalbrookdale by Night by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, 1801. Oil on canvas; 68×106.7cm, in gilt frame 85.5x124x7cm. Signed and dated. Exhibited as ‘A View of Colebrook Dale by night’ at Royal Academy London, 1801 (cat. 54). Featuring night work at the Bedlam furnaces in Madeley Dale (i.e. Coalbrookdale) along the river Severn, Shropshire. Open coke hearths give off vivid flames and smoke. Archetypal image of the Industrial Revolution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phillippe-Jacques Loutherbourg\u2019s diverse endeavours and his abundant artistic and social life in England directly reflect the degree of his naturalisation in the new context. Obtaining a fortune, appreciation of colleagues and the public, as well as the love of his second wife Lucy Paget, he took firm root on English soil and significantly influenced the development of the country\u2019s artistic life in the late 18th century. Thus, Loutherbourg displayed the versatility of his talent and the wide potential of art as the universal \u201clanguage\u201d, demanded by and accessible to people regardless of cultural and geographical barriers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Born in Strasbourg, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg (1740\u20131812) received wide recognition in France, took over The Paris Salon, and then left all that he achieved in favour of even more outstanding projects in England. There he was engaged in theatre design and painting, took part in publishing projects and introduced relevant ideas in each of those spheres. Today, the story of his career makes up a fascinating case of how artistic skills empowered craftsmen to find themselves and achieve success in new contexts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":33579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[],"class_list":["post-33835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60027,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33835\/revisions\/60027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33835"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=33835"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=33835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}