He was born in 1699 in Uzès (Languedoc), original art education received from his father, a minor painter, Mathieu S., after which he enrolled in the school of Ant. Rivals, in Toulouse. In 1724 he moved to Paris, where in 1726 for his painting "the brazen Serpent" (nah. at the Louvre) received a big prize and the right to a trip to Italy as a Royal pensioner. Settled in 1728 in Rome, engaged in copying the works of old masters and in 1729 was admitted as a member of the Academy of St. Luke, in which they were donated the sketch of the painting "Christ in the Pharisee's house" (nah. at the Louvre). S. was married to the famous miniaturist of Maria Felice Tibaldi. Mature deliberation and prochuvstvovanii composition, beautiful and however the natural grouping of the figures and the clear warmth of color are merits of works of this artist, which, however, few loses from its lack of scrutiny in the stories. In any case, it should be considered one of the best Franz. painters of the beginning of XVIII the table. He died in Rome, just 50 years old.
In the artistic life of Rome in the XVIII century, a special role is played by French artists. One of them was, Subpara. Like Chardin, born in the same year, Subleyras was a painter of quiet, deliberate gestures, controlled by emotions, but more importantly, he performed many of the great religious and mythological compositions.
The son of a humble artist from the city, he studied in Toulouse Antoine Rivalta. The works of these years (in particular five plafond compositions of the Museum of fine arts in Toulouse and three sketch them in the Museum of Malta and the City Museum in Birmingham) is characteristic of the school of Toulouse, one of the most brilliant at the time. Then, Sublayer executed his first portraits ("Madame Polare daughter", Carcassonne Museum; portrait of the sculptor Lucas, Toulouse, musée des Beaux-arts). In 1726, Sublayer moved to Paris. The following year he received the Rome prize of the Academy for his painting "the brazen serpent" (Nimes, Musee des Beaux-arts), which allowed him in 1728 to go to a pensioner's trip to the French Academy in Rome. Like Poussin, at the age of 30 years at the peak of his creative powers, the artist arrives in the Eternal City. Director of French Academy in Rome, which was located then in the Palazzo Mancini, was Flagels; of his letters to the syurintendantom fine arts Duke Dantino we learn about the development of the young artist, especially in portrait painting. From these letters it becomes clear that the artist did not want to return to Paris, and thanks to the patronage of Princess Pamphili, the Duchess of Doses, Duke of Dantana, and the Duke d Enghien, in those years the French Ambassador in Rome, for whom he executed several paintings illustrating "Tales" of La Fontaine (Paris, Louvre Museum; Rennes, musée des Beaux-arts), Sublayer was allowed not only to remain in Rome, but also to live in the Palazzo Mancini, which he will leave only in 1735.
The first significant secular order of Sublayer is the picture of "the Duke d'enghien gives vaini Prince of the order of St. Of the spirit" (France, private collection, Paris Museum of the Legion of honor; etudes - Paris, the Carnavalet Museum and private collections). In 1737, the artist painted no less significant to the song "Feast at Simon the Pharisee" for the monastery of Asti in Piedmont (Paris, Louvre; the sketches are the same; there are a few author reps). From that moment for twelve years, Sublayer receives major orders from churches not only in Rome but all over Italy (so, for TS. Cosmas and Damian in Milan, he performed "SV. Jerome", 1739, and the "Crucifixion with saints", 1744; today - Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera) and even France (Toulouse, Grae). In 1739, the artist marries the artist-miniaturist Maria Felice Tibaldi, daughter of musician Tibaldi, whose sister from 1734 was married to Tremolieres (her portrait of her husband is preserved in the Museum of Worcester). In her miniatures she often reproduced paintings of Sublayer, for example, "Feast at Simon the Pharisee" (1748, Rome, Capitoline Museum), and also directly participated in the creation of his paintings. To verify this, just look at the famous painting "artist's Studio" (Vienna, meeting of the Academy of fine arts), which depicts a family of Sublayer at work.
In 1740 cardinal Valenti Gonzaga recommended the artist to Pope Benedict XIV, whose official portrait of Sublayer performed in the next year (several options, including the musée condé in Chantilly). The patronage of the Pope provided him ordering a painting for the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome - "the Emperor Valens before Bishop Basil" ("Mass of St. Basil"; now Rome, C. Santa Maria degli Angeli, sketches - Paris, the Louvre, and Saint Petersburg, GOS. The Hermitage). Although inferior to the University, Poussin and Valentin, Subler was the only French artist commissioned for the Cathedral of St. Peter. Even before the completion of this gigantic composition (1748), the artist created his most beautiful paintings: "St. Camille de Lellis, the worshippers of the cross" (the Church in Rieti), "betrothal of St. Catherine" (Rome, private collection, sketch - Northampton, Smith College) and a true masterpiece of the master and one of the most beautiful paintings of the XVIII century as a whole - "SV. Camille de Lellis, saving patients in the hospital during the flood" (Museum of Rome). 26 Jan 1748 "Mass of St Basil" was placed in the Cathedral of St. Peter - it was an extraordinary triumph. Now, Subler received genuine recognition, along with Jean-françois de Troy, in the year the Director of the French Academy in Rome, becoming one of the greatest artists of the Roman school. But health was undermined. Despite the trip to Naples in 1747, Sublayer two years later, died in Rome, at the age of 50 years. His place was taken by Pompeo Batoni, an artist for the next generation.
Although Sublayer was primarily a historical painter, he created several still lifes (Toulouse, musée des Beaux-arts), genre scenes (on the theme of "fairy Tales" of La Fontaine, in particular - "the Mare godfather Pierre", Saint-Petersburg, GOS. The Hermitage), portraits (portrait of don Benvenuti Cesari and J. D. de Ironcore, Paris. Louvre), mythological compositions, Nudes ("Caron", Paris, Louvre; "Nude", Rome, NAT. Gal.). In all these genres the artist worked with strength, serenity, austerity and already neoklassitsisticheskoy simplicity. Its a thin smear is easily recognizable; but it deserves special attention the color of the wizard. Sublayer singled out three colors: black, white (the sketches for the "mass of St. Basil" - Orleans, Museum of fine arts) and especially minority. Sublayer, was one of the greatest innovators of his time, and his fame is not diminished and at the end of the XVIII century, But today its role has been wrongly discounted. In 1987 in Paris (Luxembourg Palace) and Rome (Villa Medici) were large exhibitions of his works.
