Jean Bardin
The Sacred Fire

Over the course of thirty years, collector Aignan Thomas Desfriches turned Orléans into a leading artistic center after convincing the city council in 1786 to open a free school of drawing, modeled after those in other French cities. To advance this cultural democratization—which marked the beginning of decentralization outside Paris—the Royal Academy recommended that he appoint Jean Bardin as professor and director, a renowned figure in the arts for the past twenty years, famous throughout Europe for his monumental and passionate drawings, which rivaled his religious paintings in fame. This rising star of history painting, who had made his debut in 1760, aligned with the ambitions of the Orléans-based collector, who, since the mid-18th century, had been attracting the artists of his time—from Perronneau to Pigalle—to the banks of the Loire.

A winner of the Prix de Rome in 1765 and admitted to the Academy in 1779, Jean Bardin is one of those who shaped the history of art. Yet no exhibition had been dedicated to him until now, leaving both his work and his advocacy for the arts in the shadows. In 1786, he founded the Free School of Drawing in Orléans, now known as the École Supérieure des Arts et de Design. In 1799, he expanded it to include a museum to provide models for the students. Two of the city’s leading cultural institutions owe their existence to this artist, to whom Orléans pays tribute by showcasing the painter’s work.

This exhibition marks the beginning of research on Jean Bardin, whose works had until then often been attributed to his contemporaries due to a lack of documentation. Several of his monumental paintings housed in churches have been restored with the assistance of the Monuments Historiques and local authorities. Thanks to recent research, Jean Bardin is regaining his rightful place in the art of the 1760s–1790s and in the history of Orléans.