Among the most gifted French painters of the latter half of the 18th century, Jacques Gamelin is unusual for his refusal to make his career in Paris, choosing instead to work mainly in southwestern France and the Lanquedoc; in Carcassone, Montpellier, Narbonne and Toulouse. (As Pierre Rosenberg has written, ‘Against the current of official painting – cold, pure colours used without intermediate tones, an increasing predilection for line and static composition – the art of Gamelin resists the centralisme Parisien and reflects instead original local traditions, thus helping to modify the over-simplified image we have of painting in France during the second half of the 18th century.’)

Gamelin’s early artistic training with Jean-Pierre ...