Studio: international art (18.1900)

Jean Jacques Henner

illustrious painter and to profit by the splendid
lessons which issue from his mouth."

In looking back to those days of study in Italy
one is struck with the steady progress which M.
Henner made in his art. The criticism passed by
authoritative writers on art from i860 onwards, on
his pictures sent from Rome, makes interesting
reading nowadays. With the exception of two of
these works, Baigneure endormi and Suzanne au
Bain, his very early work was not highly spoken of,
owing to a certain mollesse. characteristic of the
work of most young men who are feeling their way.
Notwithstanding this his work commenced to attract
much attention, and upon his return to Paris from
Rome it was considered of sufficient merit to be
given a good place at the annual exhibitions.

In 1867 we find him mentioned side by side with
ancient or contemporary masters whose works are
engraved and published by Goupil. He had com-
menced to paint those beautiful nude female forms
for which he is now deservedly famous, and he was
quickly making a reputation for himself as a por-
trait-painter. The fine Biblis was exhibited at the
Salon in 1867 ; there was a striking portrait in the
exhibition for the following year, and in the 1869
Salon was a study entitled Une Femme Couchee, a
picture of a nude woman stretched upon a divan
covered with black cloth, which was distinguished
by the delicacy of its drawing. As it would be
superfluous to mention all the works which this
painter has done since those early days, I propose
to mention a selection only, the most important,
which have been exhibited down to last year,when
he was accorded the medaille d'honmur for his
Levite d'Ephraim, the study for which has been
reproduced in colour by permission of the artist
to accompany these words. Those works include
Ldylle, 1872, a picture of great charm representing
two nude figures, one sitting near a fountain, the
other upright at the foot of a tree playing a flute;
Le Magdeleine, 1878, the best work of the year;
Le Christ Mort, 1879; Saint Jerome dans le
Desert and La Source, 1881 ; Jeune Religieuse
and La Liseuse, 1883, the year in which Mr.
Whistler exhibited the portrait of his mother;
Fabiola and La Madeleine, 1885 ; Salome, 1887 ;
Portrait de Marc Miclos and Melancolie, 1890.
And to this representative list of works I would
add the portrait of himself which he painted in
1875, and which is now to be seen in the Uffizi
at Florence.

Passing in review Henner's best works one after
the other, we notice that he has rarely painted any
picture which is more than a study. But what

admirable studies his pictures are ! In his Ldylles
he reminds us of Giorgione of the Concert Cham-
petre, revealing himself an excellent colourist and
so correct a draughtsman that, as M. Sully Prud-
homme, the poet, has said, " devant une figure de
ce peintre on pourrait prendre un pain de glaise et
la copier en relief tout entiere sans y rencontrer la
moindre lacune de modele." He delights to paint
that late hour of the day when the green of the
trees has taken the appearance of black and the
flesh becomes white, when everything expresses
calm and poetry. His flesh painting, by-the-bye, is
always good, and when I say that he advises students
to study the work of Velasquez and Titian it will be
understood where he has learnt that part of his art.

At the great Morgan sale in New York in 1866, two
small Nymphes by M. Henner sold for 11,000 francs
and 16,000francs, axxA Fabiola fetched 21,500 francs.
La Source was wanted by two bidders. One of them,
Mr. Gibson, owner of a fine gallery at Philadelphia,
said after the sale that he would have given some
thousands of dollars more than he had bid for the
picture, but he knew his rival intended to have the
work at all cost. The picture fetched 53,000 francs,
and was purchased, if I remember rightly, either by
Mr. Smith, manager of a Montreal bank, or by Mr.
Crocker, the well-known Californian millionaire.

STUDY BY J. J. HENNER