Adrien Dauzats

Artist: Dauzats, Adrien

Adrien Dauzats
Adrien Dauzats

Movement(s): Orientalism

Adrien Dauzats (1804 – 1868) was a French landscape, genre painter and painter of Oriental subject matter. He travelled extensively throughout the Middle East and illustrated a number of books for the travel writer, Baron Taylor.

Adrien Dauzats was born at Bordeaux in 1804. His father was a scenery painter at a Bordeaux theatre, and the boy grew up dreaming of becoming a scene painter. He became a pupil of Lacour at the Ecole de Dessin. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Salon of genre subjects and interiors of churches, and was also a lithographer.

After completing his studies, in around 1829, he accompanied, Baron Taylor, a playwright, soldier and archaeologist to the Middle East and visited Egypt, Syria, Mount Sinai, Palestine and other locations, for the purpose of making illustrations for Baron Taylor’s travel books, including: Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques de l’ancienne France: 1820-63; Voyage Pittoresque en Espagne, en Portugal, et sur la côte d’Afrique, de Tanger à Tetouan: 1826-32; La Syrie, I’Egypte, la Palestine et la Judée: 1835-39, and other books.

After visiting Palestine, Syria, Mount Sinai and other locations, he began to produce works with Oriental themes. He was one of the first artists to paint the Orient “with scrupulous exactitude and impartiality.” Following his second trip to the Middle East, he published a book, Quinze Jours au Sinai, which he co-authored with the novelist, Alexandre Dumas Snr, in which Dauzat’s artistic vision set it apart from other Dumas works, and also separated it from most other travel books of the period.

In 1868, the artist accepted a commission to produce four illustrations of characters from the Arabian folktale, One Thousand and One Nights for a fixed price of 2,000 francs each. Madame Aldema, who commissioned the works, paid a 1,000 franc advance when the artist commenced the first work, Sinbad the Sailor, however, the artist died in Paris in 1868 before he could finish the work. There followed a curious litigation, where the artist’s estate refused to hand over the unfinished work, on the grounds that his will had stipulated that incomplete works were not to be shown publicly. However, Madame Aldema was able to satisfy the court that the work had already been exhibited and was thus successful in taking ownership of the sketch.

Click here to read Adrien Dauzats full bio on Wikipedia.

Adrien Dauzats painted mostly in the Middle East, however, he did manage to paint a lot in France as well. Here are all the places he painted in (a link “⇠” to his works will appear here when published):

  • Bourgogne-Franche-Comte
  • Centre-Val de Loire
    • Chartres
    • Vendome
  • Grand Est
    • Nancy
    • Reims
    • Strasbourg
  • Hauts-de-France
  • Normandy
  • Nouvelle-Aquitaine
    • Bordeaux

Related Posts

  • 96
    Artist: Roberts, DavidDavid Roberts was a Scottish painter. He started as a decorator and house painter, but got an interest in paintings. He travelled extensively in the Middle East, and to reach the Middle East he travelled through France.
  • 94
    Artist: Ciceri, EugeneEtienne Eugene Ciceri (1813 - 1890) was a French painter, illustrator, engraver and theatrical designer. He came from an artistic family. His father was the scenographer, Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri. He was also the grandson of the painter Jean-Baptiste Isabey, and his mother's brother was the painter Eugene Isabey.
  • 85
    Artist: Stevens, AlfredAlfred Emile Leopold Stevens was a Belgian painter, known for his paintings of elegant modern women.
  • 82
    Artist: Truffaut, Fernand-FortuneFernand-Fortune Truffault was a French painter. He was born in Trouville-sur-Mer. He studied art in Rouen, but not much is known about this artist.
  • 82
    Artist: Loir, LuigiLuigi Loir, a French painter and lithographer, born in Austria. He amongst other illustrated one of Jules Verne's book.
Scroll to Top