Jules Joseph Lefebvre (; 14 March 183624 February 1911) was a French

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, educator and theorist.

Early life

Lefebvre was born in

Tournan-en-Brie Tournan-en-Brie (, literally ''Tournan in Brie (region), Brie''), or simply Tournan, is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

, on 14 March 1836. He entered 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 ...

in 1852 and was a pupil of

Léon Cogniet Léon Cogniet (29 August 1794 – 20 November 1880) was a French history and portrait painter. He is probably best remembered as a teacher, with more than one hundred notable students. Biography He was born in Paris. His father was a painter ...

Career

He won the prestigious

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 ...

with his '' The Death of Priam'' in 1861. Between 1855 and 1898, he exhibited 72 portraits in the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

. Many of his paintings are single figures of beautiful women. Among the portraits of his considered the best were those of M. L. Reynaud and the Prince Imperial (1874). In 1891, he became a member of the French

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 ...

. He was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the

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 ...

in Paris. Lefebvre is chiefly important as an excellent and sympathetic teacher who numbered many Americans among his 1500 or more pupils. Among his famous students were

Fernand Khnopff Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 – 12 November 1921) was a Belgian symbolist painter. Life Youth and training Fernand Khnopff was born to a wealthy family that was part of the high bourgeoisie for generations. Khnopf ...

Kenyon Cox Kenyon Cox (October 27, 1856 – March 17, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York. He was the designer of the League ...

,Oxford Art Online, "Lefebvre, Jules"

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as '. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portra ...

, Ernst Friedrich von Liphart, Georges Rochegrosse, the Scottish-born landscape painter

William Hart William Hart, also Will, Willy, Bill, or Billy Hart may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William Hart (actor) (died 1650), English Caroline actor * William Hart (painter) (1823–1894), Scottish-American painter * William Hart (singer) (1945– ...

Walter Lofthouse Dean Walter Lofthouse Dean (June 4, 1854 – March 13, 1912) was an American marine painter, commodore of the Boston Yacht Club and Vice President of the Boston Art Club. Dean was one of the most prominent members in Boston, Massachusetts of the Pain ...

, and Edmund C. Tarbell, who became an

American Impressionist American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose ...

painter. Another pupil was the miniaturist Alice Beckington as was

Laura Leroux-Revault Laura Leroux-Revault (née Maria Laura Desiderata Le Roux) (14 September 1872 – June 1936) was a French artist and painter, trained at the Académie Julian art school in Paris. Her first teacher was her father, the painter Louis Hector Leroux. ...

, the daughter of his friend Louis Hector Leroux. Jules Benoit-Lévy entered his workshop at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Lefebvre died in Paris on 24 February 1911 and was buried in the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

with a bas-relief depiction of his painting ''La Vérité'' on his grave.

Significant milestones

*1853 Student 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 ...

*1859 Second place

*1861 His ''Death of Priam'' wins the Prix de Rome *1870

professor *1870

Légion d'honneur 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 society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, Officer, named Commander from 1898 *1891 Member of the

Selected works

*1861 ''The Death of Priam'' (won the

, Paris *1861 ''Diva Vittoria Colonna'' *1863 ''Boy Painting a Tragic Mask'' *1864 ''Roman Charity'' *1865 ''Portrait d'Antonio, modèle italien'' *1866 ''Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi'' *1868 ''Reclining Nude'',

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 ...

*1869 ''Le Réveil de Diane'' *1869 ''Portrait of Alexandre Dumas'' *1870 '' La Vérité'' (The Truth),

*1870s ''Jeune femme à la mandoline'' (Girl with a Mandolin) *1870 ''Portrait du Prince Impérial'' *1872 ''Pandora'' *1872 ''La Cigale'',

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

(Exhibited Salon, Paris, 1872, no. 970; collection of Milton Latham (1827–82), San Francisco, before 1878; by whom sold, New York, 1879; collection of Daniel Catlin, St Louis, Missouri, 1879–1893; by whom gifted to the St Louis Museum of Fine Arts, 1893–1945; deaccessioned and sold, c. 1945; collection of Julian Sterling, Melbourne, by 1984–2005; from whom purchased for the Felton Bequest, 2005.) *1874 ''Odalisque'' *1874 ''Slave Carrying Fruit'' (Ghent Museum) *1874 ''Portrait of Eugène Louis Napoléon Bonaparte'' *1875 ''Chloé'', Young and Jackson Hotel,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

*1876 ''Mary Magdalene in the Cave'',

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 *1877 ''Pandora'' *1878 ''Mignon'',

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 ...

, New York *1878 ''Graziella'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York *1879 ''Diana'' *1879 '' Diana Surprised'', Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires *1880 ''Portrait of Julia Foster Ward'', Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL *1880 ''Housemaid'',

Pera Museum Pera Museum () is an art museum in the Tepebaşı quarter of the Beyoğlu (formerly called ''Pera'') district in Istanbul, Turkey, at Meşrutiyet Avenue No. 65, adjacent to İstiklal Avenue and in close proximity to Taksim Square. It has a parti ...

, Istanbul *1881 ''La Fiametta'' from

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so ...

*1881, ''Ondine'', Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest *1882 ''Pandora'' (II) *1882 ''Japonaise'' (A Japanese woman) *1883 ''Psyché'' *1884 ''The Feathered Fan'' *1884 ''Portrait of Edna Barger'', private collection *1890 ''

Lady Godiva Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

'' *1890 ''Ophelia'' *1892 ''A Daughter of Eve'' *1892 ''Judith'' *1896 ''Portrait of a Lady'' (II) *1898 ''Amor beim Schärfen seiner Pfeile'' (Love sharpening its arrows) *1901 ''Alexander Agassiz'' *1901 ''Yvonne'' (formerly Musée du Luxembourg), Portrait of Lefebvre's daughter File:Clemence Isaure.jpg, alt=Oil painting of a woman from the torso up, facing left. She wears a golden laurel wreath in her long, flowing hair, and holds a scroll and sprig of yellow flowers in her left hand., ''Clémence Isaure'' File:1879 Jules Joseph Lefebvre - Diana surprised.jpg, '' Diana Surprised'', 1879 File:Lady godiva full.jpg, alt=Oil painting of a naked woman on a horse being lead by a woman in servant's clothing along a street lined with tall, Tudor style buildings. The street is otherwise deserted, except for three doves which fly near the women., ''

'', 1890 File:La Vérité, par Jules Joseph Lefebvre.jpg, alt=Oil painting of a naked woman standing, facing the viewers. Her right hand extends above her head, holding a golden mirror, her left hand seems to be holding a stick or staff, and her right leg is bent, shifting weight onto her left hip., '' La Vérité'', 1870 File:Jules Lefèvre Vittoria Colonna.jpg, alt=Oil painting of a woman with long hair and a puffy white dress looking pensively at the viewers. She wears a golden laurel wreath and a gold pendant with a long chain around her neck., ''Vittoria Colonna'', 1861 File:Odalisque by Jules Lefebvre (1874).jpg, ''Odalisque'', 1874 File:Psyché by Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.jpg, ''Psyché'', 1883. File:Vestale endormie by Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.jpg, ''Sleeping vestal virgin'', 1902 File:Lefebvre, Jules Joseph — Sappho — 1884.jpg, ''Sappho'' 1884

Undated works

* ''Clémence Isaure'' * ''Fleurs des Champs'' * ''L'Amour Blessé'' (Wounded Love) * ''La Fiancée'' * ''Mediterranean Beauty'' * ''Nymph with Morning Glory Flowers'' * ''Portrait of a Lady'' * ''Portrait of a Woman'' * ''Woman with an Orange'' * ''Young Woman with Morning Glories in Her Hair''

References

External links

TheARTwerx – Lefebvre Gallery
Comprehensive archive of 141 images
Jules-Joseph-Lefebvre.org
42 images by Jules Joseph Lefebvre
Art Renewal Centre – Lefebvre GalleryJules Joseph Lefebvre
paintingiant.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lefebvre, Jules Joseph 1836 births 1911 deaths People from Tournan-en-Brie 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Academic artists Academic staff of the Académie Julian Prix de Rome for painting Commanders of the Legion of Honour Officiers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Burials at Montmartre Cemetery 19th-century French male artists