A 19th-century portrait of a seated man and a standing woman. The man, holding an open book, wears an elegant dark suit. The woman, in a white dress with large puffed sleeves, rests her hand on the mans shoulder. Both are looking forward.

Vaudechamp in New Orleans

by William Keyse Rudolph

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Vaudechamp in New Orleans

Vaudechamp in New Orleans

by William Keyse Rudolph

A biography and survey of the works of Jean-Joseph Vaudechamp, the French painter who made portraits of elite Louisiana Creoles in the 1830s.

A book cover featuring a portrait of a man with dark hair in 19th-century attire, set against a muted background. The title Vaudechamp in New Orleans is at the top, and William Keyse Rudolph is at the bottom.

Vaudechamp in New Orleans

HNOC 2007
hardcover • 8" × 9½" • 128 pp.
88 color images; 8 b&w
ISBN 978-0-917860-51-5

$25.00

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Although Vaudechamp’s story is, in many respects, a timeless parable about fathers, sons, and self-invention, it is also a tale of a particular historical moment.

During the 1830s Parisian artist Jean-Joseph Vaudechamp (1790–1864) spent his winters in Louisiana, establishing himself as the region’s leading portrait painter. He was, quite simply, the best-educated artist yet to have worked in New Orleans, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts and the studio of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson. In Vaudechamp in New Orleans, author William Keyse Rudolph traces the life and work of the French portraitist. Compellingly narrated, this volume is also a meditation on fathers, sons, and the role of portraiture in the transmission of culture.

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