Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ was a French painter and sculptor. He is known for remaining faithful to his detailed, realistic style throughout the extent of his career, despite the onset of the Impressionist, Fauvist and Constructivist artistic movements during his lifetime. His work is said to have contributed significantly to the establishment of an iconic repertoire representing the Orient in the nineteenth century.
Background
Ethnicity:
Lecomte du Nouÿ's family was of a Piedmontese origin.
Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ was born on June 10, 1842 in Paris, France.
Originally of a Piedmontese origin, his family had been settled in France since the fourteenth century and by the time of his birth had reached the status of nobility.
Lecomte du Nouÿ showed a strong attachment to visual art from a young age and was reported to have painted portraits of his father and uncle by the age of 6.
Education
Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ became a pupil at the atelier of Swiss artist, Charles Gleyre in 1861, at 19 years of age. Under Gleyre’s guidance Jean-Jules-Antoine learned the significance of individualistic style and gained the foundations of creative visual presentation.
Later, Lecomte du Nouy further perfected his knowledge of the art form under the mentorship of Jean-Léon Gérôme, who was a renowned painter of the Academicism movement. It was at this time that Jean-Jules-Antoine learned the precision required to depict la belle nature - a style of illustration that aims to create the most beautiful representations of the natural form. This later became one of the main techniques employed in Lecomte du Nouÿ’s signature artwork.
Career
Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ accompanied fellow artist, Félix Auguste Clément, on his travels to Cairo, Egypt in 1865. It was after this voyage that the young Lecompte du Nouy sought to portray the opulence of the Orient.
In later years, Lecomte du Nouÿ continued his travels, visiting countries like Italy and Greece. Lecompte du Nouy found inspiration in all social, historical and literary facets of the foreign culture.
Jean-Jules-Antoine was a prominent figure within the sphere of academic art and thereby would adhere to a rule-based artistic style of well-developed skill and formal composition. The artistic composition of Lecomte du Nouy’s paintings was often complemented by the use of half-light, which added certain dramatic and melancholic qualities to his work.
Besides, the thematic content of Lecomte du Nouÿ’s work was mainly figural, but also spanned over a vast range of imagery throughout his career, including classical, historical and religious.
Jean-Jules-Antoine spent most of the later years of his life in Romania. There he painted primarily the royal family and their subjects. However, he returned to Paris right before the onset of his death, which occurred on February 19, 1923.