Background
Julian was born on September 8, 1857 at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, United Kingdom, youngest of the four children of William Wetmore Story and Emelyn (Eldredge) Story.
Julian was born on September 8, 1857 at Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, United Kingdom, youngest of the four children of William Wetmore Story and Emelyn (Eldredge) Story.
He was educated at Eton and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he received the degree of B. A. in 1879.
He became in later years a portrait painter of distinction, in whose work technical mastery was combined with charm of color and handling.
For many years he centered his activities at Vallombrosa, Italy, travelling to Paris, London, and America as occasion required. Later he divided his time between Italy and Philadelphia, finally giving up the villa at Vallombrosa a few years before his death.
Story went through the usual transitions from Salon compositions ("The Entombment of Christ, " Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md. ), historical compositions ("Mlle. Sembreuil, " Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia), and realistic illustration ("Laboratory of Clinical Physiology at Saint Lazare") to portraiture . .. la mode in the larger cities of Europe and America.
Other portraits are to be seen in Philadelphia, where for a time Story was commissioned to portray many of the leaders of business and professional life and their wives. Story's style varies considerably with his subject.
He died in Philadelphia.
Julian Russell Story became an associate of the National Academy. He received a third class medal and honorable mention at the Paris Salon of 1889, a gold medal at Berlin in 1891, and silver medals at expositions in Paris (1890), Buffalo (1901), and San Francisco (1915). In 1900 he became a chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
The observer notes his vigorous drawing, his conscientious modelling, his increasing boldness of handling and of lighting, and his ability to use color of the higher ranges without disintegration. His composition is invariably soberly satisfactory, his feeling for textures delightful.
He belonged to clubs in Florence, London, New York, and Philadelphia, and to the societies of portrait painters in Paris and London.
He was gifted with his parents' charm of manner.
In 1891 he married Emma Eames, a celebrated opera-singer, from whom he was divorced in 1907. In 1909 he married Elaine (Sartori) Bohlen of Philadelphia, who with three children survived him.
