Vincent, a painter born in 1746, won the Prix de Rome in 1768, then took the lead of the neoclassical school, where he would have Jacques-Louis David as a rival, who would end up eclipsing him. In 1799 he married Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, a great portraitist and one of the very few women the Royal Academy had ever admitted. He died in 1816; the carving, for its part, has him die in 1846.
The story
The inscription has the painter François-André Vincent dying “le 4 août 1846” — thirty years after his actual death. The same line calls him dead “à l'âge de 70 ans”, at the age of seventy, which is enough to expose the error: born in 1746, he cannot have lived until 1846.
Born in Paris on 30 December 1746, a pupil of his father, the miniaturist François Élie Vincent, and then of Joseph-Marie Vien, he won the Prix de Rome in 1768 and stayed in Italy from 1771 to 1775. Head of the neoclassical school, he was the chief rival of Jacques-Louis David — until David overtook him, and posterity settled the matter.
In 1799 he married Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, one of the greatest portrait painters of her century and one of the few women admitted to the Royal Academy. A member of the Academy and then of the Institut, decorated with the Legion of Honour, he died in Paris on 4 August 1816.
The marble medallion that adorns the monument is by Louis-Marie Guichard, one of his former pupils, and it is dated 1816 — the exact year of the death. The sculptor knew; the engraver, apparently, did not.
The grave
A monument adorned with a marble medallion by the sculptor Louis-Marie Guichard, dated 1816. The inscription lists his learned affiliations and then contradicts itself: “Ici repose François André VINCENT, peintre d'histoire, membre de l'Institut et de l'Académie des beaux-arts de Paris, et de celles de Rouen, de Dijon, et de plusieurs autres académies et sociétés savantes de France et à l'étranger, membre de la Légion d'honneur, décédé à Paris le 4 août 1846, à l'âge de 70 ans.” — here lies François André Vincent, history painter, member of the Institut and of the Academy of Fine Arts of Paris, and of those of Rouen, Dijon and several other academies and learned societies in France and abroad, member of the Legion of Honour, died in Paris on 4 August 1846, aged 70. Born in 1746 and dead at seventy, he died in 1816: the engraver added thirty years.
On site, do not miss
Read the date: the stone says he died “le 4 août 1846” — on 4 August 1846 — and “à l'âge de 70 ans” — aged 70 — in the same line. The marble medallion, for its part, is dated 1816 by Louis-Marie Guichard.
Visitors' questions
Where is Vincent's grave?
In Division 11, avenue Delille, second row, beneath a marble medallion by the sculptor Louis-Marie Guichard, dated 1816 — the very year of his death. The inscription, for its part, is thirty years out on that death.
Luigi CherubiniIs there a mistake on his grave?
A mistake of thirty years: the stone has him dying “on 4 August 1846” when he died in 1816. The same line gives his age — seventy — which is enough to settle it: born in 1746, he cannot have died in 1846.
Jacques-Louis DavidWhy was he David's rival?
Because they were after the same place: as head of the neoclassical school, Vincent was long the chief competitor of Jacques-Louis David — before being swiftly eclipsed by him. Posterity came down on David's side.
Anne-Louis GirodetWho was his wife?
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, whom he married in 1799: one of the finest portraitists of the century, and one of the few women admitted to the Royal Academy. Vincent himself was trained by his father, a miniaturist, and then by Vien.
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