Théodore-Edmond Plumier


Théodore-Edmond Plumier was a religious, allegorical and portrait painter born in Liège. Along with Jean-Baptiste Coclers, Paul-Joseph Delcloche, Nicolas de Fassin, Léonard Defrance and Pierre-Michel de Lovinfosse, he was one of the most important Baroque painters active in the Principality of Liège.

Life

Nothing is known of his youth except that he was an apprentice to Englebert Fisen, another painter in the city. He seems to have then moved to Paris, where he studied under the portraitist Nicolas de Largillierre. After his stay in France, he moved on to Rome, where he worked in Agostino Masucci's studio. He returned to the Principality sometime before 1708. There he gained several commissions, including the decoration of the hôtels de ville in Maastricht and Liège. He only definitively moved back to the city of Liège itself around 1719. He also worked for several noble families, particularly the Oultremont family. Eleven paintings by him survive in the château de Warfusée, including three of the lord and seven portraits of members of the Oultremont family.
He was also commissioned by several churches in and around the city. His Saint Benedict Taken Up To Heaven for St James's Church, Liège is considered his masterpiece. Plumier also produced the high altarpiece for Liège's churches of Saint-Remacle and Sainte-Catherine —the latter sagged and tore in July 2018 and is being restored in situ.
Plumier had two sons, who both also became painters. Jacques-Théodore, painted Baptism of Clovis as the high altarpiece for the church of Saint-Rémy in Huy. Philippe-Joseph-Clément is recorded in Rome between 1739 and 1743 and a beneficiary of the fondation Darchis in the studio of Agostino Masucci. Plumier himself died in his home city and is buried in the church of Saint-Nicolas Au-Trez, whilst the city's Rue Plumier is named after him.

Paintings

Religious works

Oultremont portraits

He frequently collaborated with Jean-Baptiste Juppin, with Juppin painting the landscape backgrounds and Plumier the figures. Examples are the four large-format paintings of episodes from Jesus' life in the basilique Saint-Martin de Liège and five paintings in the basilique Notre-Dame de Tongres.
Drawings, studies and preliminary sketches by him are in the collections of the: