Louis Jacques Carrey Paintings

Louis Jacques Carrey was a French painter and draftsman born in 1649 in Beauvais, Oise, France. He is best known for his detailed sketches of the Parthenon frieze and metopes, made just before the catastrophic explosion in 1687 which significantly damaged the Parthenon during the Venetian siege of Athens. Carrey's drawings are therefore an invaluable record of the state of the Parthenon sculptures a decade before the majority of the surviving sculptures were removed by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, also known as Lord Elgin, in the early 19th century.

Carrey was a pupil of Charles Le Brun, the leading French painter of his time and the director of the Gobelins Manufactory, which produced tapestries for the French monarchs. Under Le Brun's direction, Carrey honed his skills as a draftsman. His talents caught the attention of the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, the Marquis de Nointel, who took Carrey with him to Athens in 1674 as part of his retinue. During his time in Athens, Carrey meticulously documented the classical sculptures and architecture of the Acropolis, work that would later prove to be of immense art historical significance.

Carrey's works consisted of numerous drawings that depicted the Parthenon's sculptures with considerable accuracy, although they are not entirely free from artistic interpretation. His drawings captured scenes from the Parthenon's metopes, pediments, and the frieze, which represented the Panathenaic procession. These drawings are now housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and serve as critical comparative resources for the study of the Parthenon sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, especially for the parts that have been lost or deteriorated over time.

After his return to France, Carrey continued his work as an artist but never achieved the fame that his early drawings would posthumously bring. He passed away in 1726, and for a long time, his contributions to art history were largely forgotten. It was only during the 19th century, when the Elgin Marbles became the subject of international debate and scholarship, that Carrey's works were rediscovered and celebrated for their historical importance. Today, Louis Jacques Carrey is remembered primarily for his role in preserving the visual legacy of the classical Greek art of the Acropolis, and his drawings continue to be a reference point for scholars and enthusiasts of ancient Greek art and architecture.