Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911)
/ref> 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 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and studied under his father Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury and under

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 ...

and Léon Cogniet 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 ...

(School of Fine Arts) in Paris. His first painting at the Salon de Paris, in 1866, was a large historical canvas, titled ''Varsovie, Scène de l'Insurrection Polonaise'', recalling the events of 8 April 1861 in Warsaw, when Russian troops quenched riots by force. In the following year, his "Old Women in the Place Navone, Rome" was purchased by the Musée du Luxembourg. Tony Robert-Fleury

In 1870, he painted a canvas of ''Le Dernier Jour de Corinthe'' (''Last Day of Corinth''), which depicted the last day before the Roman legions looted and burned the ancient Greek city, according to

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

. This painting was also purchased by the Musée du Luxembourg, and is now on display at 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 ...

. In 1880, he painted a ceiling for the

Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de' Med ...

in Paris, representing "The Glorification of French Sculpture." Robert-Fleury painted '' Pinel a la Salpêtrière'' (1876), which depicts the famed ''Father of Modern Psychiatry'' among the inmates of the asylum. Philippe Pinel had been named chief doctor at the asylum in 1795, and had instituted more charitable and rational treatments. In 1875, Robert-Fleury painted ''

Charlotte Corday Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont (27 July 1768 – 17 July 1793), known simply as Charlotte Corday (), was a figure of the French Revolution who assassinated revolutionary and Jacobins, Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793. Cor ...

at Caen'', which shows the woman coming to the conclusion that Marat needed to be murdered. In 1882, he painted ''Vauban donnant le plan des fortifications de Belfort'' where the celebrated engineer is represented in Louis XIV costume reviewing maps and designs, while in the background laborers are building. Robert-Fleury taught as a

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 ...

for many years 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. Robert-Fleury became president of the '' Société des artistes français'' in succession to Bouguereau. He was honoured with Commander of the

Legion of Honour 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 ...

in 1907. In 1908, he was elected president of the Taylor Foundation, a position he held until the end of his life. He acquired a great reputation and is renowned for his historical compositions, portraits and genre scenes; at his ''

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or vi ...

'' he taught several well-known painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries from various countries, including

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Secessio ...

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist, and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating paintings that assembled areas ...

, Louise-Cécile Descamps-Sabouret and Sir George Clausen.

Gallery

File:Massacre de Varsóvia 1861- Tony Robert-Fleury.jpg, ''Varsovie, Scene de l'Insurrection polonaise'' File:Philippe Pinel à la Salpêtrière .jpg, '' Pinel at the Salpêtrière''. Pinel orders removal of chains from patients at Paris Asylum for insane women. File:Robert-fleury-Le Dernier Jour de Corinthe.jpg, ''Le Dernier Jour de Corinthe'', 1870

Pupils

Some of Robert-Fleury's more prominent pupils were:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert-Fleury, Tony 1837 births 1911 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists 19th-century painters of historical subjects French portrait painters Académie Julian alumni Academic staff of the Académie Julian 19th-century French male artists