Joseph Marie Vien, a French painter, born in Montpellier, June 18, 1716, died in Paris, March 27, 1809. His "Plague of the Israelites in the Time of David " gained him the grand prize of the French academy in 1743, and a pension from the government, enabling him to spend six years at Rome. In 1754 he was elected to the French academy, and in 1775 became director of the French school of art at Rome, and in 1781 of the academy in Paris. Under Napoleon I. he was a senator. He was regarded as the first historical painter of his time, and the regenerator of painting in France. His veneration for the antique had a decided influence upon the works of his pupils David, Vincent, and others. Among his best paintings are " St. Denis preaching to the Gauls," "The Sleeping Hermit," "St. Louis intrusting the Regency to Blanche of Castile," " Hector inciting Paris to arm for the Defence of Troy," " The Parting of Hector and Andromache," "Brisei's in the Tent of Achilles," " Cupid and Psyche," "The Resurrection of Lazarus," and " The Virgin attended by Angels".