Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld (1758 - 1846)

• Was a French painter.
• A native of the city of Carpentras.
• Bidauld first studied painting with his elder brother, Jean-Pierre-Xavier, in Lyons.
• In 1783 he traveled to Paris, there winning the favor of an art dealer and perfume seller named Dulac.
• This latter subsidized Bidauld's travels in Italy, where for five years he lived in Rome and traveled widely.
• In 1790 Bidauld returned to Paris.
• In 1791 he entered the Salon for the first time.
• In 1792 he began receiving official commissions.
• In 1823 he became the first landscape painter elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
• 1825 saw him awarded the Légion d'honneur.
• His reputation began to decline at about this time; as a member of the Salon jury, he was seen as blocking a new generation of landscape painters from gaining entry.
• Bidauld was savaged in the press, and as a result became unable to sell his work.
• By the time of his death, he was near penury.

• In 1800, François-Adrien Boieldieu dedicated to Bidauld his opera Le Calife de Bagdad.

• Camille Corot was among Bidauld's admirers during his career.

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