VIOLET, Pierre Nöel

1749 - 1819

Pierre Noel Violet was born in Flanders in 1749. In 1782 he became a member of the Académie des Arts in Lille, before moving to Paris, where he exhibited at the Salon de la Correspondance in 1782 and in 1787, and from where he published his 'Traité élémentaire de l'art de peindre en Miniature' (1788). Although he had been miniature painter to Louis XVI, Violet joined the revolutionary committee in Paris before resigning and settling in London in 1790 as an émigré. He made a living by teaching both watercolour painting and dancing, but Violet soon established a successful practice as a miniaturist, exhibiting at the Royal Academy, and at the Society of Artists 1790-1819, he may have been assisted by his friend Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), in the engravings of his portraits of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (1790). Violet married in or just before 1771, Marguerite née Becret (1769-1841), by whom he had two daughters, Maria Violet, later Mrs James Brook Pulham, and Cecilia (1797–1880), who married at St James Westminster in January 1815, the miniaturist Louis Ferrière (1792-1866). Violet painted in water-colour including a picture of Landguard Fort, Felixstowe, Suffolk. Pierre Noel Violet died at his home at 1 Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, London on 9 December 1819.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 97 Jermyn Street, St James's, London
1790 314 Portrait of an Artist
         325 Portrait of a Young Girl
         328 The Queen of France
         332 Marchioness of Chablaine
         338 Portrait of a Young Lady
         339 Miss Boulanger
         342 Portrait of a Gentleman
         348 Covetousness
         369 Portrait of a Lady
         370 Portrait of a Gentleman
         371 Portrait of a Lady
from 7 Dufour's Place, Broad Street, Carnaby Market, London
1791 284 Portrait of a Gentleman
         320 Portrait of a Young Woman
         328 A frame with a Portrait of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (and eight others)
1792 761 A frame and six Portraits
1794 476 Nine miniatures
from 53 Berwick Street, Soho
1795 385 Portrait of an Artist
         386 Portrait of a Young Lady
         440 Portrait of a Girl
         446 Portrait of a Sleeping Boy
         517 A Study
         520 Portrait of a Child
         565 Portrait of a Gentleman
1796, 1797, 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809, 1810, 1811, 1814, 1815, 1817, 1818, 1819

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Works by This Artist