JEAN-FRANÇOIS PIERRE PEYRON (Aix-en-Provence 1744-1814... Lot n° 28

JEAN-FRANÇOIS PIERRE PEYRON (Aix-en-Provence 1744-1814 Paris) The Poet Virgil Reading his Works to a Group of Men and Women. Pen and ink and wash with white gouache heightening and pencil on paper. 210x308 mm; 8x12¼ inches. Sold Sotheby's, New York, January 29, 1997, sale number 6943, lot 191.Peyron won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1773 ahead of Jacques-Louis David (see lot 30) who was also a candidate. He worked between 1775 and 1782 with the Academy of France in Rome. On his return to Paris, Peyron found the career of David had taken rise and eclipsed his own, relegating it to a lesser role in the history of art as one of the first French Neoclassical artists.