Armand Cambon

Armand Cambon began his artistic training in Montauban under Léon Combes (1786-1875), then moved to Paris in 1842. He enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he entered in the studios of Paul Delaroche and Michel Martin Drolling. There, he met the famous orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme and his friend Charles Nègre, a talented photographer whose photographic 1 portrait is now in the collection of the Musée de Montauban. A close relative of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Armand Cambon benefited from the great master’s invaluable advice. He quickly won his friendship and trust and became his protégé and close collaborator. Armand Cambon participated in the decoration of the Paris Town Hall ; in the execution of Sainte Germaine de Pibrac (c.1856, Saint-Etienne church in Sapiac) ; and in late portraits such as those of Madame Moitessier and Betty de Rothschild.Ingres offered him few artworks, symbolizing their special bond. 

Armand Cambon exhibited his paintings at the Paris Salon des Beaux-Arts from 1846 until the end of his career in 1884. He earned a 2nd class medal in 1863 and a 3rd class medal in 1873. He also exhibited in the French Fine Arts sections of each of the Universal Exhibitions held in Paris in 1855, 1867 and 1878. As part of the French artistic scene, he exhibited extensively in the regions, notably in Rouen at the Salon of 1851, in Nantes (in 1851 and 1861), and in Lille in 1866. He designed religious decorations for the church of Saint-Nicolas in Craon and the Chapel of the Holy Angels in the church of Saint-Eustache in Paris. 

Armand Cambon remained rooted in his home town throughout his life. He initiated two major art exhibitions in Montauban (in 1862 and 1877), bringing together old and contemporary paintings, tapestries, enamels, decorative arts, sculptures and furniture. His key role in organizing the the town council’s celebrations of Ingres’ election to the French Senate in 1862 made him a key figure in ensuring the painter’s local posterity. Ingres appointed him executor of his will. Armand Cambon encouraged Ingres to donate paintings to the town. The donations of 1851 and the bequest of 1867 gave birth to the Ingres Museum, initially housed in the registry office of Montauban town hall. Appointed director of the museum at Ingres’s suggestion, Armand Cambon organized the collections throughout his life, enriching them with purchases from the Drouot Auction House in Paris, publishing the first catalogue of paintings and making an inventory of Ingres’s drawings. Armand Cambon’s contemporaries unanimous praised the work of this ‘visionary director’ of the museum. His former studio mate, Jean-Léon Gérôme, sent a magnificent portrait of Cambon in profile to the Mayor of Montauban, and asked that it be placed in the museum as a reminder of Cambon’s decisive role.