Georges Rouget

Georges Rouget
Portrait of Georges Rouget, attributed to David, c. 1800
Born	Marie-Georges-Louis Rouget 26 August 1783 Paris
Died	9 April 1869 Paris
Nationality	French
Education	École des beaux-arts de Paris, then studio of David
Known for	Painting
Notable work	Marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise, Portrait of David
Movement	Neoclassicism
Awards	Second Prix de Rome (1803), Knight of the Légion d'honneur

Georges Rouget (1781 in Paris – 1869 in Paris) was a neoclassical French painter.

Life

After studying in the école des beaux-arts, Rouget entered David's studio in 1797 and rapidly became his favourite student. Rouget began his professional career as his master's main assistant until David's exile to Brussels, collaborating with him on the canvases Bonaparte at the Grand-Saint-Bernard, The Coronation of Napoleon (of which he made a copy signed by David), Leonidas at Thermopylae and on one of the three copies of the Portrait of Pope Pius VII. Though winning the second prize in the prix de Rome contest in 1803, he failed three times to win the first prize. He produced many canvases for the First French Empire and the Bonapartes, such as The Marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise in 1811. A minor painter, he spent his whole career producing paintings of great moments in French history for whatever regime was in power at the time. Many of his paintings adorned the musée de Versailles opened by Louis-Philippe in 1837.

• Work (selection)
• 
  Marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise (1811)
• 
  Cupid Pleading Venus to Forgive Psyche (1827)

Bibliography

• Media related to Georges Rouget at Wikimedia Commons
• (in French) Alain Pougetoux, Georges Rouget, élève de Louis David (exhibition catalogue), Musée de la Vie romantique, ed. Paris Musées Paris 1995, ISBN 2-87900-234-6