Fernand Cormon (; 24 December 1845 – 20 March 1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French Painting, painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the Academic art, academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. He was Napoleon ...

Eugène Fromentin Eugène Fromentin (; 24 October 182027 August 1876) was a French painter and writer. Life and career He was born in La Rochelle. After leaving school he studied for some years under Louis Cabat, the landscape painter. Fromentin was one of the e ...

, and

Jean-François Portaels Jean-François Portaels or Jan Portaels (3 April 1818 – 8 February 1895) was a Belgium, Belgian Painting, painter of genre scenes, biblical stories, landscapes, portraits and orientalism, orientalist subjects. He was also a teacher and directo ...

, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France.

Biography

His father was the playwright

Eugène Cormon Pierre-Étienne Piestre, known as Eugène Cormon (5 May 1810 – March 1903), was a French dramatist and librettist. He used his mother's name, Cormon, during his career. Cormon wrote dramas, comedies and, from the 1840s, libretti; around 1 ...

. His mother was Charlotte Furais, the actress. At an early age he attracted attention for the perceived

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...

in his art, although for a time his powerful brush dwelled with particular delight on scenes of bloodshed, such as the ''Murder in the Seraglio'' (1868) and the ''Death of Ravana, King of Lanka'' at the

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

Museum. The

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

has his ''Cain fleeing before Jehovah's Curse''; and for the Mairie of the fourth arrondissement of Paris he executed in

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; , from ''gris'' 'grey') means in general any European painting that is painted in grey. History Giotto used grisaille in the lower registers of his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua () and Robert Campin, Jan van Ey ...

a series of panels: ''Birth, Death, Marriage, War'', etc. ''A Chiefs Funeral'', and a series of large paintings for the Museum of natural history in Paris with themes from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

, occupied him for several years. He was appointed to 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 1880. Subsequently he also devoted himself to portraiture such as '' Young African Woman''. Being well-accepted at the annual

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, ...

, he also ran an art school, the Atelier Cormon in the 1880s where he tried to guide his students to create paintings which would be accepted by the Salon's jury. Among his students with whom he was unsuccessful on this point were, for instance:

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Count, ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colour ...

Louis Anquetin Louis Émile Anquetin (26 January 1861 – 19 August 1932) was a French painting, painter. Biography Anquetin was born in Étrépagny, France, and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille (Rouen), Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen. In 1882 he cam ...

Eugène Boch Eugène Boch (1 September 1855 – 3 January 1941) was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, La Louvière, Hainaut. He was the younger brother of Anna Boch, the only female member of Les XX. Life Eugène Boch was born into the fifth generat ...

Paul Tampier Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (; 28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his no ...

and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

. Other students included

Alphonse Osbert Alphonse Osbert (23 March 1857 – 11 August 1939) was a French Symbolist painter. Educated at the École des Beaux-Arts, his earliest passion was for the great Spanish masters, particularly Jusepe de Ribera. A shift away from his academic sty ...

Marius Borgeaud Marius Borgeaud (; 21 September 1861 – 16 July 1924) was a Swiss Post-Impressionist painter. Early life Borgeaud came from a bourgeois milieu; he attended the Industrial School of Lausanne and did not intend to pursue painting. As chance woul ...

Theodor Pallady Theodor Pallady (; 11 April 1871 – 16 August 1956) was a Romanian painter. Biography Theodor Pallady was the son of Ioan Pallady and Maria Cantacuzino, the older sister of Romanian diplomat Neculai B. Cantacuzino. He was born in Iași, Roman ...

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (; ; ; 13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a French painter of Belarusian-Jewish origin of the School of Paris, who made a major contribution to the Expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by clas ...

, Louis Muraton and the Australian painter John Russell. Despite his moment of glory as a Beaux-Arts professor he was almost forgotten by 1924 when he was run over by a taxi outside his studio, and is barely remembered today save as the teacher of pupils more illustrious than himself. David Sweetman (1999), ''Explosive Acts'', (published in the UK as ''Toulouse-Lautrec and the fin-de-siècle''), New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 94

Selected paintings

File:Murder in the Seraglio by Fernand Cormon (1874).jpg, ''Murder in the

Seraglio A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from , via Turkish, Italian and French) is a castle, palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former Ottoman Empire. "The S ...

,'' (1874) Image:Fernand CORMON - La Mort de Ravana - Musée des Augustins - 2004 1 139.jpg, ''The Death of

Ravana According to the Mahakavya, Hindu epic, ''Ramayana'', Ravana was a kingJustin W. Henry, ''Ravana's Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below'', Oxford University Press, p.3 of the island of Lanka, in which he is the chief antag ...

,
King of

Lanka Lanka (; ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary Rakshasa king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks kn ...

'' (1875) File:Cormon, Fernand - Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse.jpg, ''

Cain Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. How ...

fleeing before
Jehovah's Curse'' (1880) File:A Forge 1894 Fernand Cormon.jpg, ''A

Forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

'' (1894) File:Fernand Cormon In Erwartung.jpg, ''Anticipation'' (date unknown) File:Cormon Fernand Le harem Oil On Canvas.jpg, ''A

Harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

'' (c.1877) File:The Deposed Favourite.jpg, ''The Deposed Favorite''
(date unknown) File:Fernand Cormon 006.jpg, ''Going Fishing'' (1888) File:Cormon, Fernand-Anne Piestre (1845-1924) - Gitane, 1897. Oil on canvas, 62 x 44 cm.jpg, Gitane (1897)

References

External links

Atelier Cormon ~1885
(note e.g. rom left; mind inscriptionsToulouse-Lautrec, Tampier, Anquetin; last row, second after sculpture, É. Bernard). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cormon, Fernand 1845 births 1924 deaths 19th-century French painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Academic art Painters from Paris French male painters Recipients of the Legion of Honour French Orientalist painters Members of the Académie des beaux-arts People of Montmartre 19th-century French male artists