Leon Gaud
1844 – 1908
Born in Geneva in 1844, Gaud studied under Barthelemy Menn at the Ecole de Beaux Artes, and had his first exhibition in Geneva in 1862. He was awarded a medal in the 1900 Paris World Fair and by 1902 had taken over Menn’s post as head of the Ecole de Beaux Artes.
Primarily a painter of landscapes, Gaud found inspiration in the scenery around Geneva and the shores of Lake Geneva, in later years he specialised more in portraiture and figures.
His highest profile works were a series of panels representing six types of music; military, pastoral, religious, light, Orphic and Dionysian, executed for The Grand Théâtre de Genève, which opened in 1879. These panels, of a highly academic nature, alternated with medallion portraits of famous composers. However, they were lost in a fire in 1951.