Joseph Caraud

French 1821 - 1905

Joseph Caraud was born at Cluny, Saone-et-Loire on January 5th 1821. He was a painter of genre scenes, studying under Abel de Pujol and Charles Louis Muller.

Caraud produced many delightful scenes of Victorian life, indoors, in gardens and set in landscapes. Like many others, he also catered for that almost limitless Victorian appetite for scenes in eighteenth century or Regency dress. Caraud preferred his interiors to landscapes, usually with figures, and liked his rooms lit only by limited sources of light. He favoured warm colours, enhanced by his clever use of glazes, and certainly possessed an unrivalled eye for detail.

Caraud won several medals for his work including 3rd class in 1859, 2nd class in 1861 and 1863 and legion of honour in 1867, some of his pictures have been engraved.

Known exhibited works include: Oracle of the Fields (1847), The Awakening and Dark and Fair (1849), Dancing Lesson, Interrupted Breakfast and A Kitchen (1855), Marie Antoinette in the Little Trianon, Abbe Prevost Reading Manon Lescaut at an Actress (1857), Athalie played at Saint-Cyr before Louis XIV, Louis XV and Mme. Dubarry (1859), Mlle de la Valliere taking the Veil, The Sedan Chair (1861), The Great Conde's Return after the Battle of Senuf, Signing The Contract, The First Born (1863), Louis XVI Making Locks (1865), Blessing The Bread, The Alert (1867), Scenes from the Marriage of Figaro (1868), Marie Antoinette and Madame Royal at Versailles (1870), Soubrette Walking, Girl Holding a Cat (1872), Breakfast (1873), Parroquet (1874), Pointed Finger (1875), Little Farmer (1876), Spring Time, Pleased Abbe (1877), Louis XV and Mme Dubarry at the Little Trianon, Coffee Mill (1878), Pouting Flower Girl (1879), Soubrette Asleep, Two friends (1880), Magpie Gardener (1882), Parroquet, A Letter (1883), Fisher Maiden (1884), Spinner, Petit Dejeuner (1885).