Émile Signol (March 11, 1804 – October 4, 1892) was a French artist who painted

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...

s, portraits, and genre works. Although he lived during the Romantic period, he espoused an austere

neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

and was hostile to Romanticism.

Biography

Signol was born in Paris. He studied under Blondel and Gros.Viardot, p. 59. He made his

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

debut at the

Salon of 1824 The Salon of 1824 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris between 25 August 1824 and 15 January 1825. It took place during the Second Bourbon Restoration, Restoration Era that followed the downfall of Napoleon's First French Empire, Fre ...

with a painting of ''Joseph Recounting His Dream to His Brothers''. He painted a portrait of

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

at the Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici, during the composer's stay upon his winning the Grand Prix de Rome in 1830. Signol had won the grand prize for the same competition's painting category with ''Titulus Crucis''.Bloom, Peter (1998)
''The Life of Berlioz''
p. 8. Cambridge University Press. In 1842 he painted ''The Death of Saphira'' for the Church of the Madeleine, and was subsequently commissioned to decorate the churches of Saint Roch, Saint Sévérin, Saint Eustace, and Saint Augustin. Four of his paintings are housed at the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris. He was made a Knight of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

in 1841, and an Officer in 1865. Elected in 1860, he held a first seat position at the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

in Paris. In 1862,

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

studied under Signol and Charles Gleyre across from the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre () is a selective institution of higher education and prestigious ''grande école'' located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology ...

at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

. Signol and Gleyre taught Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ in 1861. Signol died in

Montmorency, Val-d'Oise Montmorency () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Montmorency was the fief of the Montmorency family, one of the oldest ...

in 1892.

Selected works

* ''The Abduction of Psyche'' * ''Réveil du Juste, Réveil du Méchant Angers'' (

Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers The Musée des beaux-arts d'Angers is a museum of art located in a mansion, the "logis Barrault", place Saint-Éloi near the historic city of Angers, western France. Building The museum is part of the Toussaint complex, which includes the gar ...

) * ''Godfrey of Bouillon'' * '' La Théologié'' * '' Titulus Crucis'' * ''Portrait of

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

'' (1832) * ''Saint Bernard preaching the Second Crusade before King Louis VII, his queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Abbot Suger, at Vézelay in Burgundy, March 31, 1146'' (1840) * ''Le Christ et la femme adultère'' (1840) * ''

Dagobert I Dagobert I (; 603/605 – 19 January 639) was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the ...

'' (1842; Museo Nazionale del Castello e di Trianons, Versailles) * ''Prise de Jérusalem par les Croisés, 15 Juillet 1099'' (1847) * ''The Trial Of Calumny'' * ''Apotre Guerissant Un Malade Par L'Imposition Des Mains''

Notes

References

* Schwartz, Emmanuel (2005). ''The Legacy of Homer: Four Centuries of Art from the École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts, Paris''. Yale University Press. * Viardot, Louis (1883). ''The masterpieces of French art illustrated: being a biographical history of art in France, from the earliest period to and including the Salon of 1882, Volume 1''
The Hector Berlioz Website

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Signol, Emile 1804 births 1892 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters Prix de Rome for painting Members of the Académie des beaux-arts 19th-century painters of historical subjects 19th-century French male artists