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Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger (25 April 1824 – 22 September 1888) was a French figurative painter and
academic art Academic art, academicism, or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. This method extended its influence throughout the Western world over several centuries, from its origins i ...
ist and teacher known for his Classical and Orientalist subjects.


Education and career


The Néo-Grecs and the Prix de Rome

Boulanger was born in Paris in 1824. He never knew his father, and when his mother's death left him orphaned at the age of fourteen, he became the ward of his uncle, Constant Desbrosses, who in 1840 sent him to study first under the history painter
Pierre-Jules Jollivet Pierre-Jules Jollivet (27 June 1803, in Paris – 7 September 1871, in Paris) was a French painter and lithographer who worked mostly in the Romantic style and is largely known for genre scenes. Biography He initially studied architecture wi ...
and then at the atelier of
Paul Delaroche Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (; Paris, 17 July 1797 – Paris, 4 November 1856) was a French painter who achieved his greater successes painting historical scenes. He became famous in Europe for his melodramatic depictions that often portrayed subje ...
, where Boulanger met and befriended his fellow student
Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...
. Boulanger and Gérome would become leading lights of the
Néo-Grec Néo-Grec was a Neoclassical Revival style of the mid-to-late 19th century that was popularized in architecture, the decorative arts, and in painting during France's Second Empire, the reign of Napoleon III (1852–1870). The Néo-Grec vogue ...
movement in French art, which revisited the fascination of previous generations for the Classical world, but brought to its austere subject matter subversive touches of whimsy, sensuality, and eroticism. "When they appear on the contemporary art scene, the Néo-Grecs will be defended as rejuvenators of the Classical tradition by some, condemned as gravediggers of history painting by others…they rarely give an orthodox image of Antiquity, some, like Gérôme, Boulanger and Hamon, not hesitating to choose licentious subjects, to parody mythological characters, or to invent very personal allegories of Antiquity." In 1845, Boulanger was sent by his uncle to Algeria to tend to Desbrosses's business interests there. Boulanger was fascinated by all he saw, and what was planned as a two-month stay turned to eight, until Desbrosses threatened to cut off his funds. Boulanger brought back a large number of sketches which he used for his first Orientalist paintings. (This was the first of at least three trips to North Africa, including one in 1872 with Gérôme.) In 1848 and 1849, he shared communal living and working quarters with other artists of the Néo-Grec movement at the Chalet, 27 rue de Fleurus. The group also gathered at the atelier of Gérôme on rue de Sevres. Boulanger turned his efforts to winning the Prix de Rome, and with it, a scholarship to the
Académie de France à Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the direc ...
. In 1848, he obtained second place with ''Saint Pierre chez Marie'', and the next year he won the Grand Prix with ''Ulysse reconnu par Euryclée'' and departed for Rome, where he would remain until 1855. His education and research included study at the excavations of Pompeii. He also traveled to Greece. Each year, the students at Rome sent back to the Academy in Paris a painting to demonstrate their progress, and for public exhibition; Boulanger's works repeatedly disappointed the Academy and scandalized critics, beginning with the first, ''Phryné'', in 1850. Wrote one reviewer:
M. Boulanger, a first year pensionnaire, spent a lot of patience to paint with great finesse…a fat naked woman with red hair and slanted blue eyes, seated on rags of all colors and a scrap of cushion on which is engraved in Greek letters her name: Phryné. To take on this marvelous beauty who inspired Praxiteles' masterpiece and the famous Venus of Apelles, an artist must impose on himself the most severe purity of design, the utmost simplicity of line, the calm splendor of beauty. M. Boulanger's ''Phryné'' is far from responding to this program.
In 1856, when his studies at Rome were complete, Boulanger took a second trip to North Africa, and then returned to Paris. Boulanger moved into his own atelier at rue de La Rochefoucauld, 64, but continued to meet and socialize with the other Néo-Grecs. He became one of Jean-Léon Gérôme's closest friends; after 1863, Gérôme regularly entrusted him with the management of his studio at the École des Beaux-Arts during his travels in the East.


The Pompeiian palace of Prince Napoleon

In 1855, Prince Napoléon, cousin of
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
, decided to build a palace inspired by the villas of Pompeii, in particular by the
Villa of Diomedes The Villa of Diomedes is an ancient Roman villa near Pompeii, Italy. It is located outside the walls of Pompeii on the Via dei Sepolcri to the Gate of Herculaneum. It was excavated from 1771 to 1774 by Francesco La Vega. It was named after Marcu ...
. The palace had rooms around an atrium open to the sky with a shallow pool below. Busts of the Bonaparte family surrounded the atrium, with a white marble statue of
Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
presiding in the guise of a deified Caesar. Gérôme took part in the project by making three paintings that he considered "perhaps the most beautiful things he ever signed." The Pompeiian palace was inaugurated on 14 February 1860, in the presence of the Emperor and Empress.
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
was present to hear the recitation of his poem written for the occasion
''La Femme de Diomède: Prologue''
Then famous actors of the Théâtre-Français and the Comedie-Française performed ''The Flute Player'', a play by
Emile Augier Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...
, a friend of Gautier and the Néo-Grecs. Boulanger's ''Répétition théâtrale dans la maison d’un poète romain'' at the Salon of 1855 played a part in inspiring both the Pompeiian palace and its inauguration with a play. Boulanger was privileged to immortalize the occasion with a work presented at the Salon of 1861, ''Répétition du "Joueur de flûte" et de la "Femme de Diomède" chez le prince Napoléon'' (Rehearsal of "The Flute Player" and "Wife of Diomedes" at the Place of Prince Napoléon). The painting depicts not the performance itself but a rehearsal, with only writers, actors, and a Black slave present. Gautier wrote that the painting "will preserve the memory of a charming spectacle…
he actors He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...
are ancients and moderns at the same time…M. Boulanger was able to merge, with rare spirit and a perfect fit, two apparently irreconcilable elements: the present and past, Paris and Pompeii before the eruption of Vesuvius!…rarely has an ancient pastiche been more successful." With its synthesis of art, architecture, theatricality, re-enactment, wry humor, and royal patronage, Boulanger's ''Répétition du "Joueur de flûte"'' may be seen as the apotheosis of the Néo-Grec aesthetic.


The Franco-Prussian War and the Commune

When the enemy forces approached Paris in 1870, like many of the artists who stayed in Paris, having neither enlisted in the army nor fled abroad, Boulanger became a member of the National Guard, joining ranks with his friend Charles Garnier, as well as
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
,
Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...
,
Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...
, and
Louis Émile Benassit Louis Émile Benassit (20 December 1833 – 9 August 1902) was a French artist and raconteur. He cut a colorful figure in the literary and artistic circles of Paris in the 1860s and 1870s, known equally for his satirical drawings and for his ...
. As normal life and all previous projects came to a stop, Boulanger painted a series of works documenting the momentous events. These scenes of fire and carnage, quite unlike anything else in his oeuvre, are in the collection of the
Musée Carnavalet The Musée Carnavalet () in Paris is dedicated to the History of Paris, history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, ...
. File:Anonymous - Sarrebruck après la bataille, le 5 août 1870 - P394 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, ''Sarrebruck après la bataille, le 5 août 1870'' File:Gustave Boulanger, Battle in Place de la Concorde in Paris, 1871.tif, ''Épisode de la Commune, place de la Concorde, 1871'' File:Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger - Assaut d'un cimetière par les troupes régulières, mai 1871 - P390 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, ''Assaut d'un cimetière par les troupes régulières, mai 1871'' File:Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger - L'Hôtel de Ville incendié, assailli par les troupes de Versailles - P392 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, ''L'Hôtel de Ville incendié, assailli par les troupes de Versailles, 1871'' File:Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger - La tour Saint-Jacques, reprise par les troupes versaillaises - P395 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, ''La tour Saint-Jacques, reprise par les troupes versaillaises, 1871'' File:Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger - Épisode de la Commune, place de la Concorde - P391 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg, ''Épisode de la Commune, place de la Concorde, 1871'' File:P1330079 Carnavalet Boulanger commune Villette P393 rwk.jpg, ''La Rotonde de la Villette cernée par les troupes versaillaises''


The Classical world

Boulanger would continue to evoke the world of the ancient Greeks and Romans throughout his career. Noting his deep research and attention to detail, one critic called him "a scholar at least as much as a virtuoso." Many of these paintings are in private collections, and some are known only from written descriptions or from lithographs or other reproductions of the originals. File:Boulanger--Galathée et le berger Athis--1860.jpg, ''Galathée et le berger Athis'', 1860, private collection File:Gustave-Boulanger-Venus-et-lAmour-1860.jpg, ''Vénus et l'Amour'', 1860, private collection File:Hercules and Omphale by Gustave Boulanger.jpg, ''Hercules aux pieds d'Omphale'', 1861, private collection File:Gustave Boulanger--Horace et Lydie--1863.webp, ''Horace et Lydie'', 1863, private collection File:Boulanger, La promenade sure la voie des tombeaux, à Pompei, 1869, private collection.jpg, ''La promenade sure la voie des tombeaux, à Pompei'', 1869, private collection File:Gustave Boulanger, Une marchande de bijoux a pompeii.jpg, ''Une marchande de bijoux a Pompéi'', 1868, private collection File: Gustave Boulanger, Gynaeceum (heliogravure after the painting), 1875, private collection.webp, ''Gynaeceum'' heliogravure after the painting of 1875 File:Gustave Boulanger, Un repas chez Lucullus; Triclinium d’été, 1877.jpg, ''Un repas chez Lucullus; Triclinium d’été'', 1877, private collection File:Boulanger, Via Appia, colored.jpg, ''La Via Appia au temps d'Auguste'', colored reproduction by George Barrin of the painting of 1874 File:Gustave Boulanger, La boutique du barbier Licinius, engraving by Gautier, 1885, LOC (cropped).tif, ''La boutique du barbier Licinius'', engraving by Gautier, 1885 File:The-mother-of-the-gracchi-gustave-boulanger.jpg, ''Mother of the Gracchi'', 1885


Orientalist art

Like his friend Gérôme, Boulanger would also paint Orientalist subjects throughout his career, drawing inspiration from his travels in North Africa.
…Africa had opened up new horizons for him, had stirred in him unforgettable emotions, but had not thrown him into the great current into which Delacroix was to venture and from which, with his marvelous genius, Delacroix was to emerge unharmed. Gustave Boulanger brought back the brilliance of the Orient in his eye rather than in his thought. He dreamed of a quieter Orient, with broad lines, fine types, gently pleated draperies; an Orient with the sky of Greece.
Marie-Madeleine Aubrun sees in the artist's Orientalist works, as in his ancient world paintings, "his quest for an elsewhere" and "his attempt to apprehend the different." Because museums preferred to collect his Classical subjects, Boulanger's Orientalist works were for a long time less well known, but in the 21st-century art market they are more sought after and bring higher prices. File:Gustave Boulanger, A Bedouin Musician, 1859, private collection.jpg, ''A Bedouin Musician'', 1859, private collection File:Gustave Boulanger--la deroute des kabyles--1863.jpg, ''La déroute des Kabyles'', 1863, private collection File:Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rudolphe An Arab Horseman.jpg, ''Djeid et Rahia'', 1865, private collection File:Gustave Boulanger, Catherine I of Russia negotiating the Treaty of Prut with the Turks, 1866, private collection.jpg, ''Catherine I Negotiating the Treaty of Prut'', 1866, private collection File:Gustave Boulanger, El Hiasseub, Conteur Arabe, 1868, private collection.jpg, ''El Hiasseub, Conteur Arabe'', 1868, private collection File:Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rodolphe C Est Un Emir.jpg, Title unknown, 1870, private collection File:Gustave-Boulanger, La Prière, 1871.jpg, ''La Prière'', 1871, private collection File:Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Reception Of An Emir.jpg, ''Reception Of An Emir'', 1871, private collection File:Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rodolphe A Tale of 1001 Nights.jpg, ''La quête de l'Aïd-Srir, à Biskra'', 1873, private collection File:Gustave Boulanger--Two Arab Men--by 1888.webp, ''Deux arabes assis'', undated, private collection


Portraits and character studies

Though less known for his portraiture, Boulanger painted and drew portraits throughout his career. File:Gustave Boulanger, portrait of Edmond Membrée, c 1849-50.jpg, , c. 1849-1850 File:Alfred de Curzon (1820-1895).jpg, Alfred de Curzon, 1852,
Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...
File:Portrait_of_Woman_and_Three_Children_MET_DP805610.jpg, Woman and three children, 1852,
Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...
File:Gustave Boulanger, study for Tête d'Italienne.webp, study for ''Tête d'Italienne'', 1854, private collection File:Gustave Boulanger, Tete d'Italienne, 1854, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes.jpg, ''Tête d’Italienne'', 1854,
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes The musée des beaux-arts de Valenciennes is a municipal museum in the French town of Valenciennes. Its collections originated as the collection of the ''Académie valenciennoise de peinture et de sculpture''. It opened to the public for the fir ...
File:Gustave Boulanger, Camille du Commun du Locle, 1854, musée du Louvre.jpg,
Camille du Locle Camille du Locle (16 July 18329 October 1903) was a French theatre manager and a librettist. He was born in Orange, France. From 1862 he served as assistant to his father-in-law, Émile Perrin, at the Paris Opéra. From 1870, he was co-dire ...
, 1854,
Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
File:Jules_Duprato_by_Gustave_Boulanger.jpg,
Jules Duprato Jules Laurent Anacharsis Duprato (20 August 1827 – 20 May 1892) was a 19th-century French composer.Wagstaff 1992. Biography A student of Aimé Leborne at the Conservatoire de Paris, he won first prix de Rome, grand prix de Rome for musical c ...
, 1856,
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
File:Casimir le Conte, after Boulanger MET DP813238.jpg, , 1856, etching,
Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...
File:Gustave Boulanger, Daniel Garnier sleeping, c. 1862, Musée du Louvre département des Arts graphiques.jpg, Daniel Garnier sleeping, c. 1862,
Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
File:Gustave Boulanger, Portrait of Charles Garnier, 1884, Aberdeen Art Gallery.jpg, Charles Garnier, 1884,
Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...
File:Camille Saint-Saëns, portrait By Gustave Boulanger, drawn for Charles Bellan, 1884 (cropped).jpg,
Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...
, 1884,
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...


''The Slave Market''

Boulanger produced one of his most famous paintings near the end of his life, shown at the Paris Salon of 1886: ''Un Maquignon d’esclaves à Rome'' (A Slave Dealer in Rome), which has become better known as ''The Slave Market''. A "pendant" painting, ''Esclaves à vendre'' (Slaves for Sale), followed in 1888 and was to be Boulanger's last exhibited painting. Though set in the ancient Roman world, these paintings are stylistically closer to Boulanger's Orientalist works. The realism is stark, with none of the playfulness and luxurious fantasy of his previous Classical paintings; ''The Slave Market'' seems a world away from ''Répétition du "Joueur de flûte"''. ''The Slave Market'' is thought to be in a private collection. The status and location of ''Esclaves à vendre'' (known only from a black and white reproduction) is unknown.


Teacher and advocate of Academic art

Boulanger was an influential teacher with a long list of students. At the prestigious
Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...
, Boulanger, unlike many instructors, accepted both male and female students. Alice De Wolf Kellogg remembered Boulanger as her favorite teacher, writing, "His instruction was the simplest—most broad—most rousing…that I ever received." When Boulanger was inducted as a member of the
Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
in 1882, he joined the faculty of the
Beaux-Arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...
(more formally known as the
École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...
) and in his final years was both a teacher and an ardent champion of
Academic art Academic art, academicism, or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. This method extended its influence throughout the Western world over several centuries, from its origins i ...
and its traditions and methods. After joining the faculty he delivered and published two eloquent speeches. The first was ''Notice sur M. Lehmann'' in 1883, an encomium to the recently deceased
Henri Lehmann Henri Lehmann (; 14 April 1814 – 30 March 1882) was a German-born French historical painter and portraitist. Life Born Heinrich Salem Lehmann in Kiel, in the Duchy of Holstein, he received his first art tuition from his father Leo Lehmann ...
, whom Boulanger saw as an exemplar of the best artistic virtues. The second speech was ''À nos élèves'' (To Our Students) delivered in 1885, in which Boulanger attacked what he saw as a decadent, vain striving for novelty in the arts. "We see this so-called novelty appear from year to year under pretentious and ill-justified names such as naturalism,
impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, luminism, intentionism, tachisme—to use the slang with which they claim to glorify impotence and laziness." He went on to deliver a paean to the accomplishments of French art, praising the rigorous standards passed from masters to students that had made Paris the art capital of the world. He quoted Claudius Popelin: "Art must be a chain; it is when it breaks that there is decadence." In response to this speech,
Octave Mirbeau Octave Henri Marie Mirbeau (; 16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still app ...
wrote a mocking rebuttal, ''"La Tristesse de M. Boulanger"'', which asserted that "the doctrines of M. Boulanger have no effect, no influence, good or bad, on men...He can write letters, heap volume upon volume, and deliver all the speeches he likes...He cannot make these ideas give talent to those who lack it, or take genius away from those who have it!" In a letter to Eugéne Montrosier dated 17 July 1888, Boulanger wrote: "I fight Modernity to the utmost when it manifests itself in the clownish pranksters who have elevated all their impotence and all their laziness to the state of principles. But, these people are still very few in number…There are, beside them, a lot of young men who have talent that I really appreciate. Now, the rowdy Modernity of which you speak, believe me, has no future; it will pass as I have seen so many others pass, of which nothing remains after a few years." Montrosier in an obituary wrote: "Gustave Boulanger, beneath his peaceful exterior, hid an iron will and a wrestler's temperament. He was sometimes wrong; he did not want to go with his century and lend himself to the changes that French art had to undergo, but he resisted in good faith and fought with conviction."


Personal life


Friendship with Charles Garnier

Boulanger shared a long and fruitful relationship, both personal and professional, with the architect Charles Garnier. Garnier obtained the
Grand Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
in 1848 at age twenty-three, for architecture. Boulanger obtained his Grand Prix de Rome for art the next year at age twenty-five, and the two met as students enjoying their subsequent scholarships at the
French Academy at Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the direct ...
. A portrait of Garnier by Boulanger dated 1854 is in the collection of the Academy at the
Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...
. Boulanger would execute several more portraits of Garnier over the decades. In 1868, Boulanger spent the month of May traveling in Spain with Garnier and his wife, Louise Bary Garnier. Garnier's travel journal, filled with architectural sketches and character studies, includes a few drawings by Boulanger, and several sketches of Boulanger by Garnier, including one of "pauvre Boulanger" with a scarf binding his jaw with the knot tied atop his head, suffering a toothache. The Bibliothèque nationale de France has made the original manuscript of Garnier's ''Voyage en Espagne'' freely available online, and an English translation with facsimile of the original was published in 2012. The two friends found the opportunity to collaborate when Garnier designed two opulent opera houses and commissioned Boulanger to execute large and elaborate paintings to decorate walls and ceilings. Boulanger's paintings for the Foyer de la Danse in the
Opéra Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at ...
in Paris (1875) and his massive ceiling painting ''Allegory of Music'' high above the stage of the
Opéra de Monte-Carlo The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco. With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Charles III, Prince of Monaco, Prince Charl ...
(1879) were judged by some critics to be his most successful work. The two men came to share a familial intimacy and were in almost daily contact. Boulanger's closeness to the Garniers can be seen in his drawing of their infant son Daniel sleeping, made around 1862; the child died at age two. The poignant memento eventually passed from the Garnier family to the Louvre. In a letter to Garnier, Boulanger inquired: "How is the earthly envelope of that beautiful soul that is so dear to me? Do you know you are the second person in my life in whom have I found an imagination and a heart after my own fashion?" (Boulanger does not name the first person.) Born a year and a half apart, Boulanger and Garnier died within a year of each other.


Friendship with Mademoiselle Nathalie

Boulanger was the close friend of one of the most famous actresses in France, Zaïre-Nathalie Martel, known to one and all as . She remains a legend in the annals of the Comedie-Française, not least for her quarrel with the much younger
Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...
. At a ceremony honoring the birthday of Molière on 15 January 1863, Bernhardt's younger sister, Regina, stepped on the train of Mademoiselle Nathalie's gown. Mademoiselle Nathalie shoved Regina off the gown, causing the girl to strike a stone column and gash her forehead. Bernhardt stepped forward and slapped Mademoiselle Nathalie so hard that the older actress fell onto another actor. When Bernhardt refused to apologize, she was forced to leave the Comedie-Française. While some contemporary writers said that Boulanger and Nathalie were married, the foremost Boulanger scholar of the 20th century, Marie-Madeleine Aubrun, refuted this: "Although here and there the idea of marriage has been insinuated, we have found no written trace of it. Furthermore, the actress's death announcement in 1885 does not mention the name of Gustave Boulanger, which seems surprising. And above all, the death certificate specifies ''célibataire''
ingle Ingle may refer to: People * Ingle (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Ingle Martin (born 1982), American former football quarterback Places in the United States * Ingle, California, a community * Ingle, Florida, an unincorporate ...
" Mademoiselle Nathalie died three years before Boulanger, in 1885. He donated his portrait of her, painted in 1867, to the Comedie-Française.


Personal appearance

Boulanger's self-portrait at age 30 or 31, executed while he was in Rome, depicts an artist with a penetrating gaze and an elegantly waxed mustache. But a later art historian was struck by the contrast between the older Boulanger's personal appearance and the polished perfection of his art. "As for G. Boulanger, his works, all of grace, elegance and charm, do not correspond at all to our picture of him. A round face with a flattened, bald head, a squat nose, a small mouth, half-closed eyes, a shaggy beard—these are the traits of a magician of color and form, the creator of so many exquisite works!...And yet, as with
Verlaine Verlaine (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density Population density (in ag ...
, of whom the image of Boulanger makes one think, what delicacy lies beneath this rough bark!" File:Gustave Boulanger self-portrait 1855 Rome--Villa Medici.jpg, Self-portrait, 1855 File:Eugène Giraud, caricature of Gustave Boulanger, Les Soirées du Louvre 23.jpg, Caricature by Eugène Giraud, 1867 File:Gustave Boulanger, photo by Ferdinand Mulnier, 1880.jpg, Photo by Ferdinand Mulnier, 1880 File:Eugène Pirou, portrait of Gustave Boulanger, Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France (cropped).jpg, Photo by Eugène Pirou File:Gustave Boulanger, portrait photo by Ernest Ladrey, published 1888, Bibliothèque nationale de France.jpg, Photo by Ernest Ladrey, published 1888 File:Gustave Boulanger--2 photos by Atelier Pierre Petit et fils (cropped).jpg, Photo by Atelier Pierre Petit et fils, c. 1888


Death

On the evening of Friday, 21 September 1888, Boulanger suffered a pulmonary congestion, took to bed, and died the next day."Necrologie"
''Courrier de l'Art'', vol. 8, no. 39, 28 September 1888, p. 312.
Eugène Montrosier, who saw him on his deathbed, wrote that
Gustave Boulanger must have had a presentiment of his death, because, on the very day he was to fall ill, he insisted on reproducing, in a vehement study, the portrait of a three-year-old child whose photograph had been before him for several months, a project he had been setting aside. Yes, his last painting was done with the feverish haste of those who fear they will not be able to finish the work they have begun in time. Added
Charles Narrey Charles Narrey (1825 in Becques, Nord (French department), Nord – 1892 in Paris) was a 19th-century French writer, including novelist and playwright, from an Irish family arrived in France following James II of England. Narrey made his debu ...
: "Gustave Boulanger sang while painting. I had never seen him in such good spirits, nor so full of confidence. Showing me this portrait, he said: 'I passed for a good draftsman, but only now I feel that I am on the way to becoming a good painter.'"
Without family, at his home at rue Ballu, 6, Boulanger died attended by his concierge and two praying nuns. He was given "a beautiful funeral" attended by "''le tout Paris artistique et littéraire''," with speeches by his friends
Henri Chapu Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu (; 29 September 1833 – 21 April 1891) was a French sculptor in a modified Neoclassical tradition who was known for his use of allegory in his work. Life and career Born in Le Mée-sur-Seine into modest circumstance ...
,
Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...
, and Charles Garnier. By his will his estate was split between his cousin Paulemma Hennequin, his goddaughter Nathalia Desbrosses, and Mademoiselle Nathalie; having pre-deceased him, her share was claimed by the State.


Legacy

Boulanger's long and influential teaching career carried forward his principles of art well into the next century, even as the countervailing influence of
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
and other movements ultimately prevailed. Unlike Gérôme (who died in 1904), he did not live long enough to see the tide turn decisively against him, but the tide was turning nonetheless. An unsigned obituary in the ''Courrier de l'Art'' was scathing, saying that Boulanger was "a perfectly gallant man, a very mediocre painter, and in no way an artist," who "taught better than he painted. The man is deeply and very legitimately missed; the painter will not be, not because M. Boulanger painted mainly Greek or Roman subjects, but because he massacred them constantly by painting them without any trace of originality, without the slightest style, with the most despairing vulgarity, a ruthlessly convinced harshness and the most routine monotony." The British critic
Marion Spielmann Marion Harry Alexander Spielmann (London, 22 May 1858 – 1948) was a prolific Victorian art critic and scholar who was the editor of '' The Connoisseur'' and '' Magazine of Art''. Among his voluminous output, he wrote a history of '' Punch' ...
wrote a less hostile but still ambivalent assessment: "France has lost one of her most popular painters. I say 'popular' advisedly, for although he was a painter who always reached a high level of excellence...he never rose to be a really great artist," and his talent, though "of a very high order…never once reached the borderland of absolute genius." Spielmann noted that Boulanger was most often compared to Gérôme and Alma-Tadema, but in such comparisons "the times were few indeed when Boulanger...came out the victor." Spielmann suggested that it was for his decorations, such as his paintings at the Opéra Garnier, that Boulanger would "retain his reputation." The enormous fame and prestige of Gérôme and Alma-Tadema precipitously declined and virtually collapsed in the next century—Gérôme's painting ''
The Snake Charmer ''The Snake Charmer'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme produced around 1879. After it was used on the cover of Edward Said's book ''Orientalism (book), Orientalism'' in 1978, the work "attained a level of notoriety ...
'', which sold for $19,500 in 1888, sold for just $500 in 1942. But while the works of those two artists are once again attracting the interest of collectors, scholars, and the general public, Boulanger remains obscure. No large-scale reassessment, such at that accorded Gérôme with the 2010 exhibitions at the
Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...
and 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 been granted to Boulanger. Boulanger's Orientalist works, like those of other painters in the genre, have risen sharply in value in the 21st century (thanks largely to a generation of immensely wealthy Arab collectors who "want to take it back and have it for themselves"), but in this field his auction records are a fraction of those of Gérôme. Boulanger and Gérôme were linked from the very beginning of their careers.
Edmond About Edmond may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Edmond'' (play), a 1982 play by David Mamet ** ''Edmond'' (film), a 2005 film based on the 1982 play * '' E.d.M.O.N.D'', a 2013 EP by Edmond Leung * ''Edmond'', a 2016 play by Alexis Michalik ** ''E ...
wrote in 1867:
Boulanger hatched from the same atelier as Gérôme. He has not always followed the same route; his very independent originality led him sometimes to right, sometimes to left; influences from Rome and the Academic milieu effected deviations here and there; but there is always a visible kinship between those two talents. Curiosity, research, finesse and a grain of preciousness, love of the new, passion for the finished, need for exact detail: these are the common features that unite these two artists and maintain their family resemblance.
The American art critic Earl Shinn went so far as to call Boulanger "a sort of alter ego of Gérôme's" who "fits his peculiarities into those of his friend like the lining into the waistcoat," but allowed that "occasionally, as in recent decorations of a Paris mayor's office," Boulanger could strike "a classical vein with more popular grace than Gérôme, though with less originality." Forever compared to Gérôme (and deemed the lesser artist), Boulanger seems fated to dwell in his shadow. No art historian or curator has undertaken the task of decoupling Boulanger's legacy, so as to allow a full assessment of his work, based solely on its own merits.


Boulanger in museums


Paris

* ''La Mort de Cyrus'' (study), 1844,
École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...
. * ''Ulysse reconnu par Euryclée'', 1849, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts. * ''Portrait du poète et librettiste Camille du Commun du Locle'', 1854, gouache, watercolor and pencil, Musée du Louvre département des Arts graphiques. * ''Répétition du “Joueur de flûte” et de “La femme de Diomède” chez le prince Napoléon'' (study), 1860,
Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...
. * ''Répétition du “Joueur de flûte” et de “La femme de Diomède” chez le prince Napoléon'', 1861, Musée d’Orsay. * ''Daniel Garnier endormi'' (drawing of Charles Garnier's infant son, who lived 1862–1864), c. 1862, Musée du Louvre département des Arts graphiques. * ''Portrait de Zaïre-Nathalie Martel, dite '', 1867, Comédie-Française. * ''Sarrebruck après la bataille'', c. 1870,
Musée Carnavalet The Musée Carnavalet () in Paris is dedicated to the History of Paris, history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, ...
. * ''L’Assaut du cimetière par les troupes régulières'', 1871, Musée Carnavalet. * ''Épisode de la Commune, place de la Concorde'', 1871, Musée Carnavalet. * ''L’Hôtel de Ville incendié, assailli par les troupes de Versailles'', 1871, Musée Carnavalet. * ''La Rotonde de la Villette cernée par les troupes Versaillaises'', 1871, Musée Carnavalet. * ''La tour Saint-Jacques reprise par les troupes Versaillaises'', 1871, Musée Carnavalet. * ''Les Danses champêtre, bacchique, amoureuse et guerrière'' (studies), before 1875,
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
. * ''Vertus civiques: Le Mariage, Le Départ à la guerre, Vie antique, L'Étude, La Famille, Forge'', 1878, studies for the Salle des Mariages de la Mairie du 13e arrondissement, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris,
Petit Palais The (; ) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the Exposition Universelle (1900), 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...
. * ''Portrait de Charles Garnier'', n.d.,
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
. * Miscellaneous drawings, sketches and studies, Musée du Louvre département des Arts graphiques.


Elsewhere in France

* ''Portrait de Monsieur Sinclair-Desbrosses'', 1849,
Musée Lambinet The Musée Lambinet is a municipal museum in Versailles telling the history of the town. Since 1932, it has been housed in the hôtel Lambinet, a hôtel particulier designed by Élie Blanchard, built in the second half of the 18th century by a par ...
. * ''Parc de la villa Borghèse à Rome'', c. 1847,
Musée Hébert The Musée Hébert is a museum located in the Hôtel de Montmorency-Bours at 85, rue du Cherche-Midi, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It has been closed since 2004 for renovations. The museum is housed within the Petit-Montmorency, ...
,
La Tronche La Tronche () is a commune in the Isère department, Southeastern France. It is part of the Grenoble urban unit (agglomeration).
. * ''Ulysse reconnu par Euryclée'' (study), 1849,
Musée Magnin The Musée Magnin is a national museum in the French city of Dijon in Burgundy, in the Côte-d'Or department, with a collection of around 2,000 works of art collected by Maurice Magnin and his sister Jeanne and bequeathed to the state in 1938, alon ...
,
Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
. * ''Acis et Galatée'', 1848, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Narbonne. * ''Le Repas des Dieux'', after
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
, 1853,
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes The Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes ( ''Musée des beaux-arts de Rennes'') is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Rennes, the capital of Brittany. Its collections range from ancient Egypt antiquities to the Modern art period and m ...
. * ''Tête d’Italienne'', 1854,
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes The musée des beaux-arts de Valenciennes is a municipal museum in the French town of Valenciennes. Its collections originated as the collection of the ''Académie valenciennoise de peinture et de sculpture''. It opened to the public for the fir ...
. * ''César arrive au Rubicon'' (study), 1854,
Musée de Picardie The Musée de Picardie is the main museum of Amiens and Picardy, in France. It is located at 48, rue de la République, Amiens. Its collections include artifacts ranging from prehistory to the 19th century, and form one of the largest regio ...
, Amiens. * ''César arrive au Rubicon'', 1854, Musée de Picardie. * ''Venus Captive'', 1860, * ''Le Mamillare'' (or ''Le Bain; Après le bain''), 1867,
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 ...
. * ''Saint Sébastien et l’empereur Maximilien Hercule'', 1877,
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille The Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille is one of the main museums in the city of Marseille, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It occupies a wing of the Palais Longchamp, and displays a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from ...
. * ''Portrait de Madame Lambinet, née Nathalie Sinclair'', 1887,
Musée Lambinet The Musée Lambinet is a municipal museum in Versailles telling the history of the town. Since 1932, it has been housed in the hôtel Lambinet, a hôtel particulier designed by Élie Blanchard, built in the second half of the 18th century by a par ...
, Versailles.


Rome

* Portraits of Boulanger's fellow pensionnaires at the
Académie de France à Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the direc ...
, Villa Medici: '' Charles Lecointe'', 1849; ''
Jules Duprato Jules Laurent Anacharsis Duprato (20 August 1827 – 20 May 1892) was a 19th-century French composer.Wagstaff 1992. Biography A student of Aimé Leborne at the Conservatoire de Paris, he won first prix de Rome, grand prix de Rome for musical c ...
'' and ''
Felix Thomas Félix Thomas (1815–1875) was a French architect and painter. He was born in Nantes and after graduating from high school Clemenceau, he studied architecture and drafting at the Polytechnique before being admitted to the Beaux-Arts where ...
'', 1851; '' Alfred de Curzon'', 1852; '' Charles Garnier'' and ', 1854; ', '' Denis Lebouteux'', and Boulanger's self-portrait, 1855.


The Netherlands

* ''Phryné'', 1850,
Van Gogh Museum The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened o ...
, Amsterdam.


Russia

* ''Répétition théâtrale dans la maison d’un poète romain'', 1855,
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...
, Saint Petersburg.


United Kingdom

* ''Portrait de Charles Garnier'', 1884,
Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...
. * Study for 'La danse champêtre', ca. 1875,
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
.


United States

* ''Deux Maures'', c. 1850,
Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of modern art, ...
. * ''Sirène'' (or ''Mermaid''), n.d., Baltimore Museum of Art. * ''L’Automne'', 1850,
Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...
. * ''Portrait of Woman and Three Children'', drawing, 1852,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
.


Boulanger in public buildings

* Decorative paintings for the Foyer de la Danse,
Opéra Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at ...
, Paris, 1875: File:Gustave Boulanger, La danse amoureuse.jpg, ''La danse amoureuse'' File:Gustave Boulanger, La danse champétre.jpg, ''La danse champétre'' File:Gustave Boulanger, La danse bachique.jpg, ''La danse bachique'' File:Gustave Boulanger, La danse guerrière.jpg, ''La danse guerrière'' * ''Allegory of Music'', ceiling painting above the stage in the Salle Garnier,
Opéra de Monte-Carlo The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco. With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Charles III, Prince of Monaco, Prince Charl ...
, Monaco, 1879. * ''Le Mariage''; ''L’Étude''; ''La Patrie''; ''Vir esto''; ''Uxor esto'', 1878, Salle des Mariages de la Mairie (city hall) of the
13th arrondissement of Paris The 13th arrondissement of Paris (''XIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le treizième'' ("the thirteenth"). The arrondissement is ...
. Boulanger combined his expertise at portraiture and at large-scale projects by including images of people close to him when he executed these large murals. Some of these portraits can be identified from preliminary drawings by Boulanger conserved at the Musée Carnavalet. The faces can be clearly seen in an engraving by William Haussoullier after the mural called ''Le Mariage'', or by the longer title ''Les époux se doivent mutuellement fidélité secours assistance''. Boulanger’s close friend Mademoiselle Nathalie is the most prominent of the female figures, dominating the left side. Among the witnesses to the wedding at right can be seen Boulanger’s friends and colleagues
Ernest Meissonier Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (; 21 February 181531 January 1891) was a French academic painter and sculptor. He became famous for his depictions of Napoleon and his military sieges and manoeuvres in paintings acclaimed both for the artist's mas ...
,
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 ...
,
Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...
, Alexandre Dumas ''fils'', and Boulanger’s closest friend, Charles Garnier. Boulanger also included a self-portrait, the figure at far right. Another study at the Carnavalet depicts the youthful figure leaning against a column and gesturing with his right hand. Earlier studies from the planning stages, conserved at the
Petit Palais The (; ) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the Exposition Universelle (1900), 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...
, show the same figures in a less finished state, without identifiable faces. File:Gustave Boulanger--Salle des Mariages mural 1888--engraving by William Haussoullier..Musée Carnavalet (cropped).jpg, Engraving by Haussoullier after Boulanger's marriage mural; studies and details below. File:Gustave Boulanger--Meissonier--Musée Carnavalet (cropped).jpg, Meisson-
ier File:Gustave Boulanger--Portraits des peintres Cabanel et Gérôme--Musée Carnavalet (cropped).jpg, Cabanel,
Gérôme File:Gustave Boulanger--Alexandre Dumas, fils--Musée Carnavalet.jpg, Dumas File:Postcard--Charles Garnier by Gustave Boulanger--Musée Carnavalet (cropped).jpg, Garnier File:Detail from mural by Gustave Boulanger--Mademoiselle Nathalie.jpg, Mlle. Nathalie File:Detail from mural by Gustave Boulanger--Ernest Meissonier--Alexandre Cabanel--Jean-Léon Gérôme--Alexandre Dumas fils--Charl;es Garnier.jpg, Meissonier, Cabanel, Gérôme, Dumas, an unknown figure, Garnier File:Detail from the mural by Gustave Boulanger--self-portrait.jpg, Self-portrait File:Gustave Boulanger--drawing of a youth--Musée Carnavalet.jpg, Youth leaning against pillar File:Gustave Boulanger - Esquisse pour la salle des mariages de la mairie du 13ème arrondissement - Vertus civiques. - PPP3897 - musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris - 8.jpg, Preliminary plan, female figures File:Gustave Boulanger - Esquisse pour la salle des mariages de la mairie du 13ème arrondissement - Vertus civiques. - PPP3897 - musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris - 9.jpg, Preliminary plan, male figures


Boulanger at auction

A record for a Boulanger painting was set by ''La Cour du Palais de Dar Khdaouedj El Amia, Alger'' (1877), auctioned for $576,000 at Christie's in New York in 2005. Other notable results include $265,250 for ''El Hiasseub, Conteur arabe'' (1868) in 2009, £119, 700 for ''The Prayer/La Prière'' (1871) in 2021, $66,000 for ''Catherine I of Russia Negotiating the Treaty of Prut with the Turks'' (1866) in 2006, €23,940 for ''Deux arabes assis'' (watercolor and charcoal) in 2023, €18,750 for ''Project de décor pour le Foyer de la Dansee à l'Opéra Garnier'' (a large pencil and watercolor study, before 1875) in 2008, and €11,256 for ''The Flowergirl'' (1888) in 2004. In 1848, as a student, Boulanger submitted a painting for the Prix de Rome; the entry did not win (it came in second), and the painting, ''Saint Pierre introduit dans la maison de Marie, mère de Jean'', also called ''Saint Pierre chez Marie'', was believed lost for 171 years until it was rediscovered in the attic of an old house in a small hamlet in
Creuse Creuse (; or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the east, Cor ...
, France. The painting represents a rare example of religious art by Boulanger.
France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...
television called it "la trouvaille de l'année" (the find of the year). It was auctioned at the Hôtel des Ventes in
Guéret Guéret (; Occitan: ''Garait'') is a commune and the prefecture of the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography Guéret is a light industrial town, the largest in the department, with a big woodland a ...
in November 2019 and realized €21,000.


See also

* List of pupils of Gustave Boulanger *
List of Orientalist artists This is an incomplete list of artists who have produced works on Orientalism#Orientalist art, Orientalist subjects, drawn from the Islamic world or other parts of Asia. Many artists listed on this page worked in many genres, and Orientalist subj ...
*
Orientalism In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...


References


Sources

*About, Edmond (1867). ''Salon de 1866'', Paris: Hachette, 1867. *Aubrun, Marie-Madeleine (1986). "Gustave Boulanger, peintre éclectique," ''Bulletin de la Société d'histoire de l'art français'', no. 72, cat. 110, 1986, pp. 167–256; includes an essay by Aubrun, a chronology of Boulanger's life and career, and an illustrated ''catalogue raisonné'' of Boulanger's work. *Blaugrund, Annette and Bowie, Joanne W. and Kellogg, Alice D. (1988)
"Alice D. Kellogg: Letters from Paris, 1887–1889"
''Archives of American Art Journal'', Vol. 28, No. 3, 1988, pp. 11–19. *Boulanger, Gustave (1885)
''À nos élèves''
text of a speech, Paris: A. Lahure, 1885. *Boulanger, Gustave (1883)
''Notice sur M. Lehmann''
speech memorializing
Henri Lehmann Henri Lehmann (; 14 April 1814 – 30 March 1882) was a German-born French historical painter and portraitist. Life Born Heinrich Salem Lehmann in Kiel, in the Duchy of Holstein, he received his first art tuition from his father Leo Lehmann ...
(who died in Paris in 1882), delivered before the Académie des Beaux-Arts, session of 27 January 1883. *Bouvet, Charles (1925)
"Gustave Boulanger, Collaborateur de Charles Garnier à l'Opéra"
''Gazette des Beaux-Arts'', Nov. 1925, pp. 301–311. * Brookner, Anita (1962)
"Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: Paris"
(includes review of ''Répétition du "Joueur de flûte"''), ''The Burlington Magazine'', vol. 104, no. 713, August, 1962, pp. 361–364. *Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate (2013)
"Public Commemoration and Private Memory: Félix Bracquemond vis-à-vis the Siege of Paris and the Commune"
''Getty Research Journal'', No. 5, 2013, p. 74. *Claretie, Jules (1896)
"Un Livre Unique: lAffaire Clemenceau'' Peinte et Illustrée"
(reproduces two images drawn by Boulanger directly on the pages of a book by Alexandre Dumas ''fils''), ''La Lecture'', 10 April 1896, pp. 103–112. *Couëlle, Colombe (2010)
"Désirs d'Antique ou comment rêver le passé gréco-romain dans la peinture européenne de la seconde moitié du XIX e siècle"
''Anabases'', No. 11 (2010), pp. 21–54. *Du Pays, A. (1851), "Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Exposition des Grands Prix–Envoi des pensionnaires de l’Académie à Rome," ''L’Illustration'', 9–16 October 1851, no. 450, vol. XVIII, pp. 227–228. *Garnier, Charles (1868)
''Voyage en Espagne''
original manuscript and drawings with the collaboration of Louise Bary Garnier, Gustave Boulanger, and Ambroise Baudry, Bibliothèque nationale de France. *Garnier, Charles (2012)
''Journey to Spain''
vol. 1 (English translation) and vol. 2 (facsimile of original ms. in French, with the collaboration of Louise Bary Garnier, Gustave Boulanger, and Ambroise Baudry), Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain: Nerea, 2012. *Garnier, Charles (1875). ''Le nouvel Opéra de Paris: Peintures Décoratives''
paintings by Boulanger for the Foyer de la Danse, plates 2–7
, Paris: Duchet & Cie., 1875. *Gautier, Théophile (1861)
"Boulanger (Gustave)"
in ''Abécédaire du Salon de 1861'', Paris: 1861, p. 67-71. *Gautier, T., Houssaye, A., nd Coligny, C. (1866)
''Le palais pompéien de l'avenue Montaigne: études sur la maison grécoromaine, ancienne résidence duprince Napoléon''
Paris, 1866. *Gold, Arthur & Fizdale, Robert (1991). ''The Divine Sarah: A Life of Sarah Bernhardt'', New York: Knopf.
"''Le Gynécée''. From a Painting by Gustave Boulanger"
''The Art Journal'', New Series, Vol. 2, 1876, pp. 266–267. *Hanselaar, Saskia (2016)
"La maison pompéienne de Joseph Napoléon par Gustave Boulanger"
''Histoire par l'image'', posted May 2016. *Haseltine Galleries (1874)
''Catalogue of Mr. Charles F. Haseltine's Collection of Oil Paintings and Aquarelles''
Philadelphia: 1874, Boulanger entries (''The Pompeian Maid'', no. 206, and ''Hercules at the Feet of Omphale'', no. 308), pp. 37 and 59. *Hooper, Lucy H. (1878)
"The Exhibition at Les Mirlitons"
(Boulanger's ''The Home of the Cadi: a Reminiscence of Algiers in the Olden Times'' described), ''The Art Journal'', New Series, Vol. 4, 1878, pp. 122–124. * Jagot, Hélène (2013)
''La Peinture Nó-Grecque (1847–1874); Réflexions sur la constitution d’une catégorie stylistique''
Theses pour obtenir le grade de Docteur (en Histoire de l'art) de l'Université de Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense. *Javel, Firmin (1888)
"Gustave Boulanger"
''L'Art français'', no. 76, 6 Oct. 1888, p. 4. *Javel, Firmin (1889). ''Catalogue des oeuvres de Gustave Boulanger'', Paris, 1889. *Lan, Jules (1883). ''Mémoires d'un chef de claque: souvenirs des théatres'', Paris: Librairie Nouvelle, 1883. *Leeuw, Ronald de (1996). "Gustave Boulanger. Phryne: courtisane en beeldhouwersmodel," ''Van Gogh Bulletin'', 11 (1996) 3, pp. 10–13. *Legrand Caroline (2019)
"Une peinture de concours"
''La Gazette Drouot'', 23 October 2019. *Mirbeau, Octave (1885, 1993). "La tristesse de Monsieur Boulanger," ''La France'', 13 April 1885; reprinted in Mirbeau, ''Combats esthétiques'', Paris: Nouvelles Editions Séguier, 1993, vol. 1, pp. 150–153. *Montrosier, Eugène (1881)
''Les Artistes Modernes'', vol. I
(Boulanger chapter, pp. 21–24), Paris: H.Launette, 1881. *Montrosier, Eugène (1888)
"Gustave Boulanger
''Revue Illustrée'', v. 6, no. 69, 15 Oct. 1888, pp. 274–280. *Safran, Linda (1980). "A Note on Boulanger's ''Répétition Générale du Joueur de Flûte''," ''Gazette des Beaux-Arts'', 6, no. 96, November 1980, pp. 185–6. * Shinn, Earl (1881)
''Modern French Art''
New York: A.W. Lovering, 1881. * Spielmann, M.H. (1889)
"Gustave Boulanger"
''The Magazine of Art'', vol. XII, 1889, pp. 70–72. *Weidinger, Corina (2006)
''Imperial Desire and Classical Revival: Gustave Boulanger's'' Rehearsal of "The Flute Player"
thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware, 2006. *White, Clara M. (1899)
"A Western Art Collection"
(image and critique of Boulanger's ''Daily News Reading before the Barber Shop of Licinius''), ''Brush and Pencil'', Vol. 4, No. 4, July 1899, pp. 181–191. *Wien, Jo Ann (1981)
''The Parisian Training of American Women Artists''
''Woman's Art Journal'', Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring-Summer 1981, p. 42.


External links


Gustave Boulanger
'' Dictionnaire biographique des pensionnaires de l’Académie de France à Rome'' online {{DEFAULTSORT:Boulanger, Gustave 19th-century French painters French male painters 1824 births 1888 deaths French Orientalist painters Prix de Rome for painting Academic art Academic staff of the Académie Julian Members of the Académie des beaux-arts 19th-century French male artists