Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran[1] (born Lille, 4 July 1837 – died Paris, 17 February 1917), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of high societyinThird Republic France.
Carolus-Duran
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Portrait of Carolus-Duran (1879), Clark Art Institute, by John Singer Sargent.
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Born | Charles Auguste Émile Durand (1837-07-04)4 July 1837
Lille, France
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Died | 17 February 1917(1917-02-17) (aged 79)
Paris, France
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Nationality | French |
Alma mater | Académie des Beaux-Arts |
Known for | director of the French Academy in Rome |
Spouse |
(m. 1869; died 1912) |
Children | 3 |
Awards | Grand Officer, Legion of Honour (1900) |
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The son of a hotel owner, his first drawing lessons were with a local sculptor named Augustin-Phidias Cadet de Beaupré (1800–?) at the Académie de Lille; then took up painting with François Souchon,[2] a student of Jacques-Louis David. He went to Paris in 1853, where he adopted the name "Carolus-Duran".[citation needed]
In 1859, he had his first exhibition at the Salon. That same year, he began attending the Académie Suisse, where he studied until 1861. One of his early influences was the RealismofGustave Courbet.[3]
From 1862 to 1866, he travelled to Rome and Spain, thanks to a scholarship granted by his hometown. During that time, he moved away from Courbet's style and became more interested in Diego Velázquez.[1][4]
Upon returning to France, he was awarded his first gold medal at the Salon.[5] His picture "Murdered", or "The Assassination" (1866), was one of his first successes, but he became best known afterwards as a portrait-painter, and as the head of one of the principal ateliers in Paris, where some of the most brilliant artists of a later generation were his pupils.[1]
In 1867, he became one of the nine members of the『Société Japonaise du Jinglar』(a type of wine); a group that included Henri Fantin-Latour, Félix Bracquemond and Marc-Louis Solon. They would meet once a month in Sèvres for a dinner "à la Japonaise".[citation needed]
He married Pauline Croizette [fr], a pastellist and miniaturist who had posed for his painting "The Lady in Gloves" in 1869.[6] They had three children. Their eldest daughter, Marie-Anne, married the playwright Georges Feydeau.
After 1870, he devoted himself almost entirely to portraits. While many of his paintings depicted wealthy patrons in elegant clothing, he also notably painted a portrait of his gardener which stands in contrast to his other works in its loose strokes and earth tones.[7] His success allowed him to open a studio on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, where he also gave painting lessons. He was named a Knight in the Légion d'honneur in 1872; being promoted to Officer in 1878, Commander in 1889 and Grand Officer in 1900.[8]
In 1889 and 1900 he served on the juries at the Expositions Universelles. In 1890, he was one of the co-founders of the second Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1904. The following year, he was appointed Director of the French Academy in Rome, a position he held until 1913.[9]
He was a frequent visitor to the resort at Fréjus, where he owned a small villa. Following his death at age 79, the resort named a plaza and a beach after him.[citation needed]
His pupils reportedly included John Singer Sargent,[10] Irving Ramsey Wiles, Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Francis Brooks Chadwick, Emma Chadwick Jan Stanisławski (painter), Kenyon Cox[11] Theodore Robinson,[12] Mariquita Jenny Moberly.[13] Mariette Leslie Cotton,[14] Maximilien Luce, James Carroll Beckwith, Will Hicok Low, Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low, Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun,[15] Robert Alan Mowbray Stevenson, Lucy Lee-Robbins,[16] Ramón Casas i Carbó, Ernest Ange Duez and James Cadenhead[17]
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