(b Paris, 7 March 1786; d Paris, 9 Jan 1851). Son of (1) Martin Drolling. The pupil of his father, he also studied in David’s studio in 1806. He obtained the Prix de Rome in 1810 with the Anger of Achilles (Paris, Ecole N. Sup. B.-A.). After his stay in Rome he exhibited the Death of Abel (Leipzig, Mus. Bild. Kst.) in the Salon of 1817. He decorated two ceilings in the Musée Charles X in the Louvre and obtained two commissions from the Musée d’Histoire at Versailles: the Tours States-General (1836) and the Alexandria Convention (1837). His genre scenes show that while his style was generally colder, he inherited his father’s love of Dutch art and use of thinly applied, porcelain-like paint, contrasting effects of light and meticulous detail. His figures were either half-length with a landscape background in the English manner (Portrait of Manuel, 1819; Brest, Mus. Mun.) or full-length and set in countryside, with the charming naivety of Pierre Duval Le Camus.

Part of the Drolling family

• Drolling, Michel-Martin
  • Academy, §5: Academic ideals versus practical concerns
  • Drolling
  • France, §III, 5(iii): Painting & graphic arts, c 1814–c 1914: Influence of the studios
  • France, §XV, 6: Art education: The Ecole des Beaux-Arts and teaching studios in the 19th century
  • assistants
    • Rosenthal, Constantin David
  • pupils
    • Aman, Theodor
      • Aman, Theodor
    • Baudry, (Jacques-Aimé-)Paul
      • Baudry, Paul
    • Bertall
      • Bertall
    • Breton, Jules
      • Breton, Jules
    • Curzon, (Paul-)Alfred de
      • Curzon, Alfred de
    • Galland, P(ierre) V(ictor)
      • Galland, P. V.
    • Henner, Jean-Jacques
      • Henner, Jean-Jacques
    • Nègre, Charles
      • Nègre, Charles
    • Robinson, John Charles
      • Robinson, John Charles
    • Strutt, William (1825-1915)
      • Strutt, William
  • reproductive prints by others
    • Blanchard, Auguste, III
  • works
    • Schroth, Claude