Thomas Couture worked for years on the immense canvas he showed at the Salon of 1847: a Roman orgy unfolding at the feet of statues embodying the ancient virtues; the critics saw it as aimed at the July Monarchy, a year before it fell. The success and scandal of the season, and he never regained that summit. Yet his studio trained Manet, Fantin-Latour and Puvis de Chavannes.
The story
Thomas Couture was born at Senlis on 21 December 1815. Trained in the academic studios, he worked for years on an immense canvas that he showed at the Salon of 1847: “Les Romains de la décadence”.
The picture shows a Roman orgy beneath the statues of the antique virtues. The critics read into it an attack on the July Monarchy, a year from its fall. It was the success and the scandal of the year; the work hangs today in the Musée d'Orsay and remains one of the emblematic paintings of the century.
He never found that height again. His painting, halfway between the academy and a freer handling, was quickly overtaken by what his own pupils were about to do.
For his studio trained Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. Manet spent six years there quarrelling with him, and came out to paint exactly what Couture condemned.
He died at Villiers-le-Bel on 30 March 1879 and lies in Division 4, on the main avenue, a few steps from Colette, from Bartholomé and from Paul Baudry's monument.
The grave
A granite monument designed by the architect Barrias, topped by a bronze bust by the sculptor Tony Noël. The inscription is brief and gives the genre rather than the names of the works: “Thomas Couture, history painter, 1815-1879” — not a word about the “Romans of the Decadence”, nor about the pupils who outstripped him. Two cherubs were stolen at All Saints' 2011; their empty places still frame the bust, as on the graves of Barye and Bizet stripped of their bronzes.
On site, do not miss
The empty places of the two cherubs stolen in 2011, on either side of the bronze bust.
Visitors' questions
Where is Thomas Couture's grave?
In Division 4, Avenue Principale, first row, a few minutes from the Boulevard de Ménilmontant entrance — the same alley as Colette's grave, Bartholomé's recumbent effigy and Paul Baudry's monument.
Paul BaudryWhat is “Les Romains de la décadence”?
A vast canvas shown at the Salon of 1847 — “Romans of the Decadence” — depicting a Roman orgy beneath the statues of the ancient virtues. Critics saw in it an attack on the July Monarchy, a year before its fall. It hangs in the Musée d'Orsay.
Camille CorotWas Manet his pupil?
Yes, for six years, and in constant conflict: Manet left that studio to paint precisely what Couture condemned. Henri Fantin-Latour and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes also passed through it, and likewise outgrew him.
Camille PissarroIs anything missing from his monument?
Two cherubs, stolen at All Saints' 2011; their empty places still frame the bust. The bust itself, in bronze and signed Tony Noël, remains in place on the granite monument designed by the architect Barrias.
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