Pompier art is a style of painting that the French Academy promoted between ca 1850-1900 . The term was invented to be a derogatory word for this style of art. It ridiculed the conservatism og middle-class France for its fondness for the Neoclassical style.
Pompiermeans fireman in French, it was making fun of the typical classical helmets depicted in academic history painting and they somewhat looked like a fireman’s helmet in contemporary France. Pompier cleverly also plays on other words such as pompous.
Alexandre Cabanel(1823-1889)and William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) are artists typically associated with l’art Pompier
