Carolus-Duran

Charles Auguste Émile Durand (Jul 4, 1837 - Feb 17, 1917), known as Carolus-Duran, was a French painter and art instructor He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of high society in Third Republic France

Carolus-Duran was among the most celebrated portrait painters working in Paris in the 1870s With his casual pose and elegant clothing, he is presented as a dandy or fashionable man-about-town On his lapel he wears the red pin of the French Legion of Honour, awarded for his contribution to the arts Sargent studied with Carolus-Duran, launching his own career by exhibiting this portrait to great acclaim Along the top, he added an inscription paying homage to his teacher and describing himself as an “affectionate pupil”

John Singer Sargent was born in 1856 in Florence, where his family remained until 1874 Following a childhood interest in drawing, he began his formal art education in Rome in 1869 and continued in Florence at the Accademia di Belle Arti from 1873 to 1874 In May of that year, Sargent’s family moved to Paris so that he could receive advanced training He was quickly accepted into the studio of Carolus-Duran (born Charles-Emile-Auguste Durant, 1838—1917) and soon became one of the master’s star pupils

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 Vélazquez Upon returning to France, he was awarded his first gold medal at the Salon

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"

Sargent was drawn to the studio of Carolus-Duran by its pleasant atmosphere, its international nature with many foreign students, its flexibility when compared with the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and especially Carolus-Duran’s success and popularity Trained at the Académie Suisse, Carolus-Duran had also studied in Italy and Spain A portrait of his wife, admitted to the Paris Salon of 1869, launched his career as one of the preeminent portraitists of Paris He opened his studio in 1873, and, while his career declined through the 1880s, his importance in the art world increased In 1889 he was a founding member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and its president in 1898 He was named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in 1872 and was made a grand officer in 1900 In 1905 he became director of the French Academy in Rome

He married Pauline Croizette, a pastellist and miniaturist who had posed for his painting "The Lady in Gloves" in 1869 They had three children Their eldest daughter, Marie-Anne, married the playwright Georges Feydeau

After 1870, he devoted himself almost entirely to portraits 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

In his studio Carolus-Duran did not follow the curriculum of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which stressed drawing as the foundation of good art He taught that painting was of supreme importance [This image] of Carolus-Duran sums up all that Sargent learned from him: the informality of the portrait; the combination of elegance and realism; the contrast between the highlighted face and hands and the thinly painted dark background, and their contrast as well with the freely painted torso These elements all combine to make this youthful work a masterful balance between psychological depth and bravura technique The lessons that Sargent had learned and combined so successfully at the age of twenty-three, based on direct observation and the economical use of paint, would serve him throughout his career

He was 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, a student of Jacques Louis David He went to Paris in 1853, where he adopted the name "Carolus-Duran" 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 Realism of Gustave Courbet

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

He was a frequent visitor to the resort at Fréjus, where he owned a small villa Following his death, the resort named a plaza and a beach after him

They include John Singer Sargent, Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Kenyon Cox Theodore Robinson, Mariquita Jenny Moberly Mariette Leslie Cotton, Maximilien Luce, James Carroll Beckwith, Will Hicok Low, Paul Helleu, Alexandre Jean Baptiste Brun , Robert Alan Mowbray Stevenson and Ernest Ange Duez Of his twenty-five most notable students, the majority were English or American
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