Pierre Henri de Valenciennes

Pierre Henri de Valenciennes was an artist whose documented activity spanned the final decades of the eighteenth century, with works dating between 1760 and 1797. His output demonstrates a focused engagement with both classical landscape composition and detailed observational studies.

The artist’s historical significance is confirmed by the preservation of his works in major American institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Institutional records document five Pierre Henri de Valenciennes paintings and four drawings represented in these museum collections.

His known oeuvre includes classical compositional pieces such as Classical Landscape with Women at a Fountain and the broader Classical Landscape. In contrast to these finished works, his surviving studies emphasize topographical observation and atmospheric effects, notably Study of a Tree in the Luxembourg Gardens, Study of Clouds over the Roman Campagna, and the detailed topographical rendering View of Rome. The nine preserved pieces confirm the museum-quality status of his output. Today, high-quality prints derived from these historical works are widely available for study and appreciation.