VIEŃ, JOSEPH MARIE, a distinguished French painter, was born at Montpellier on the 18th of June 1716. After spending a very sickly youth, he ultimately emerged from his retirement in 1743 as first prizeman for the French Academy's picture, and as exhibitor on the government pension to Rome. Next year he departed for Rome, where he remained for six years, and returned to Paris with many excellent pictures. These were succeeded by many others, which in style and technical skill resembled closely the pupils of the Caracci. As Vien's fame extended, it had to contend with the envy of the insipid artists, Vanloo, Boucher, and even Natoire his old master. His "St Denis preaching to the Gauls" justifies the admiration of his contemporaries, who saw in him the regenerator of the French school. After being decorated with the order of St Michael in 1775, and having been appointed one of the rectors and directors of the French Academy, where he had previously been professor, he was chosen chief painter to the king in 1789. Napoleon on his accession to power, made him a member of the senate, a count of the empire, and a commander of the Legion of Honour. Vien died at Paris on the 27th
March 1809 in his ninety-second year. Vincent and David carried out the pictorial reforms which Vien had begun.