Louis Francois CASSAS

1756- 1827

Louis-François Cassas' Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phoenicie, de la Palestine, et de la Basse-Egypte is perhaps the finest eighteenth century illustrated book on the Middle East. His artistic education was very eclectic; his teachers included Joseph-Marie Vien, a Neo-classical painter and teacher to Jacques Louis David, and Roccoco painters such as Jean-Baptiste Le Prince.
In 1778 Cassas went to Italy, venturing out from Rome to Venice, Naples, and Sicily, sketching everything he saw. The passion f or antiquity led Cassas to accompany the French ambassador Choiseul-Gouffier on his mission to Constantinople in 1784. He travelled to Egypt and Syria at Choiseul-Gouffier's expense until 1787. While he was in Egypt, Cassas drew the antiquities of Alexandria, the pyramids of Giza, and the mosques of Cairo. In Syria, Cassas made numerous drawings of Palmyra and in Lebanon he produced another series illustrating Baalbec. As well as his archaeological and architectural pieces, he drew costumes studies, views, processions, scenes from daily life and animals. . In 1787 Cassas journeyed back to France via Rome, arriving in Paris in 1792. After the Revolution, he was appointed as drawing professor at the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory, where he remained until his death. Cassas exhibited views of his travels at the Salons of 1804 and 1814. His 745 models of ancient monuments in cork and terracotta for Paris's Ecole des Beaux Arts influenced Neoclassicism's development in the early 1800s.

Benezit, vol. II, p.578.

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