Background
His father, the sugar millionaire William Hood Stewart, moved the family from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Paris in 1865, and became a distinguished art collector and an early patron of Fortuny and the Barbizon artists.
His father, the sugar millionaire William Hood Stewart, moved the family from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Paris in 1865, and became a distinguished art collector and an early patron of Fortuny and the Barbizon artists.
Julius studied under Eduardo Zamacois as a teenager, under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts, and later was a pupil of Raymondo de Madrazo.
A contemporary of fellow expatriate painter John Singer Sargent, Stewart was nicknamed "the Parisian from Philadelphia."
Stewart"s family wealth enabled him to live a lush expatriate life and paint what he pleased, often large-scaled group portraits. The first of these, After the Wedding (Drexel University Art Collection, 1880), showed the artist"s brother Charles and his bride Mae, daughter of financier Anthony J. Drexel, leaving for their honeymoon. Subsequent group portraits depicted his friends — including actresses, celebrities and aristocrats — often with a self-portrait somewhere in the crowd.
He exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon from 1878 into the early 20th century, and helped organize the "Americans in Paris" section of the 1894 Salon.
He painted a series of sailing pictures aboard James Gordon Bennett, Junior."s yacht Namouna. Another, Yachting on the Mediterranean (1896), set a record price for the artist, selling in 2005 for United States$2,312,000.
Late in life, he turned to religious subjects, but Stewart is best remembered for his Belle Époque society portraits and sensuous nudes.
The Toilet
Lady In Her Boudoir
A Supper Party
Woman in an Interior
Redemption
Young Beauty In A White Dress
Nude in an Interior
Venetian Market Scene
In the Boudoir
Self Portrait
After The Ball
On The Terrace
Nude in the Forest
An Enthralling Novel
Yachting in the Mediterranean
The Glade
Portrait Of Laure Hayman
Carolina
The Ball
Woman in a Garden
Sarah Bernhardt and Christine Nilsson
An Idle Afternoon
Nymphs of Nysa
A Hunt Ball
Sunlight
On the Yacht "Namouna", Venice
The Laughing Maid
Full Speed
Flower Girl
An English Lady
Summer's Promenade
The Seine at Bougival
End of Summertime, the ride, form the cover of "Soleil du dimanche", sunday 20th of October 1901
The Baptism
Reclining Woman
Room with a View
The Visit
Spanish Girl
View Of Venice (The Dogana)
Rio della Maddalena
An Interesting Letter
The Hunt Supper
Portrait of a Woman
The Canal
Portrait of a Lady
Half Naked Woman
Reading
At Home
Venetian Canal
Study Of A Nude Woman
Young Woman In Blue
Forest Glade, Santa Barbara
Portrait of Mrs Francis Stanton Blake
Picnic Under The Trees
Quiet Day on the Seine
Morning
Young Woman at Piano
Unknown
Nymphs Hunting
In The Park
A Toast
The Unfulfilled Wish
Lady On A Pink Divan
Still Life with Asian Objects
Repose
Ladies with a Gentleman in a Top Hat