François Souchon

François Souchon
Portrait of Souchon in 1851 by his pupil Alphonse Colas
Born	1787 Alais, Gard, France
Died	5 April 1857 Lille, Nord, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Painter
Known for	Head of École des beaux-arts in Lille

François Souchon (1787 – 5 April 1857) was a French painter.

François Souchon was born in Alais, Gard, in 1787. In 1809 he went to Paris to study painting. His father gave him a very small allowance while he was studying. He became a pupil of Jacques-Louis David, the famous painter of historical scenes. Through the influence of M. De Lascour he was able to find work in the houses of several leading personages teaching art to their children. These included Lafayette, Maubourg and Lasteyrie, and Lasteyrie's son-in-law the Antoine Destutt de Tracy. Later he taught in the houses of the Duke of Rovigo, the Prince of San Carlo and Marshall Sébastiani.

After the Hundred Days for some time Souchon lost the employment he had enjoyed with the leading families of the First French Empire, but soon after the second Bourbon Restoration he began to find new employment. Through their influence he was commissioned to paint a portrait of King Louis XVIII of France, which was given by the state to the municipality of Alais where it was hung in the council room. After the coronation of Charles X of France on 29 May 1825 he was one of the artists commissioned to paint large scenes of episodes in the ceremony, in his case the repas royal. The king, princes and nobles who appeared in the picture all visited his studio to pose for their portraits in the painting.

Souchon was commissioned by the state to paint various other large works in the years that followed, such as a Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, 12 by 8 feet (3.7 by 2.4 m), in 1824 and a Resurrection of Lazarus, 12 by 8.5 feet (3.7 by 2.6 m) in 1827. Several paintings were exhibited in the Salon de Paris. He was a close friend of Xavier Sigalon, who also came to Paris from the Nord department. In 1833 he agreed to assist Sigalon in a huge task that had been assigned by Thiers, to go to Rome to make a copy of Michelangelo's fresco of The Last Judgement for a room in the Palais des beaux-arts. There was a dispute between the two artists, and Souchon returned to Paris. In 1837 he was in his studio on the rue des Orfèvres working on three tableaux of episodes in the life of Joan of Arc, la Vocation, la Victoire and Martyre.