Jacques-Laurent Agasse
1767–1849 · Swiss animal and equestrian portrait painter
Jacques-Laurent Agasse (Geneva, 1767 - London, 1849) was a Swiss painter who spent most of his career in England. He specialised in animal painting, and his work had a strong influence on English artists of his time. He is therefore regarded as a notable figure in animal painting at the close of the eighteenth century and the start of the nineteenth.
He trained in Geneva, at the city's public art school, and later in Paris, where he is said to have had contact with the studio of Jacques-Louis David. Around 1800 he settled in London, and for almost half a century he exhibited at the Royal Academy, mainly with horses, equestrian portraits and open-air scenes. He is believed to have acquired a precise knowledge of animal anatomy, probably through veterinary studies in Paris. His fine brushwork and outdoor subjects made him the most striking painter of the Geneva Romantic movement.
Among his surviving works are The Playground (1838) and The Nubian Giraffe (1827), both with animals at their centre. Despite his success at exhibitions, he lived modestly and moved house often while in London.
Works (2)
Oil on canvas dated 1838 and of modest size, now held at the Oskar Reinhart Museum. Its title, The Playground, suggests a scene set in a play yard, but reliable details about its figures, composition and commission are not available here, so it is best approached with caution and an open eye.
Painted in oil on canvas in 1827 by Jacques-Laurent Agasse, this work centres on a single giraffe. Its title, The Nubian Giraffe, points to a focus on one animal rather than a wider scene. Little is recorded about its commission or setting, so the painting is best approached through what it shows. It is held in the Royal Collection.
Where to see the work
- Kunst Museum Winterthur | Reinhart am Stadtgarten Winterthur · 1
- Royal Collection · 1
Curiosities
A commission that changed his life
According to a German periodical of 1808, a wealthy Englishman, George Pitt, later Lord Rivers, commissioned a portrait of his favourite greyhound, which had just died. He was so pleased with the result that he took the painter back to England with him. The anecdote, recorded by a publication of the period, places this commission at the origin of his career in London.
Compared with Wouwermans
Johann Georg Meusel, in his journal Neue Miscellaneen, compared Agasse with Philips Wouwermans and clearly preferred the former. The writer praised his extreme devotion to art, his remarkable knowledge of anatomy and his particular fondness for English racehorses, which he painted with great skill. It is, however, a highly partial piece of praise, written with evident admiration.