The Soul of Neoclassicism: The Life and Legacy of Hippolyte Jean Flandrin In the grand tapestry of nineteenth-century French art, few threads are woven as delicately or as powerfully as those left by Hippolyte Jean Flandrin. Born in Lyon in 1809, Flandrin emerged from a family where the brush was a common language; his brothers, Augusto and Paul, were also deeply immersed in the artistic pursuits of the era. While his parents had envisioned a more stable, conventional business career for him, the young Hippolyte possessed an undeniable, innate passion for the canvas that could not be suppres…