Tony Robert-Fleury

TONY ROBERT-FLEURY (Paris, 1837-Viroflay, 1912).
"Portrait of a lady in front of a screen".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 75 x 56,5 cm; 99 x 79 cm (frame).
In this work the artist presents us with a portrait of the bourgeois taste of the time, with the young woman of beautiful features arranged in an elegant position. At a formal level, it is worth mentioning how the figure is strongly illuminated, especially in the face, which is enhanced by a snowy tone of the skin. The brushstroke used by the artist is changing, much more precise, practically invisible, in the face, hair and bust of the woman, but looser in the dress and background, although in the latter a screen adorned with chinoiserie can be appreciated. A highly popular ornamentation at the time.
During this period the panorama of the European portrait is varied and broad, with numerous influences and largely determined by the taste of both the clientele and the painter himself. However, this century saw the birth of a new concept of portraiture, which would evolve throughout the century and unify all the national schools: the desire to capture the personality of the human being and his character, beyond his external reality and his social rank, in his effigy. During the previous century, portraiture had become consolidated among the upper classes, and was no longer reserved only for the court. For this reason, the formulas of the genre would become more relaxed and move away from the ostentatious and symbolic.
Tony Robert-Fleury was a French painter noted for his historical compositions and for his influential work as a teacher in the artistic field. Born on the outskirts of Paris, he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts under the tutelage of his father, Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury, as well as Paul Delaroche and Léon Cogniet.
His career took off in 1866 with the presentation at the Paris Salon of a large canvas entitled Varsovie, Scène de l'Insurrection Polonaise, which evoked the repression of the revolts in Warsaw by the Russian army. A year later, the Musée du Luxembourg acquired his Old Women in the Piazza Navona. Among his best-known paintings is Le Dernier Jour de Corinthe (1870), inspired by Titus Livy's account of the destruction of the Greek city by the Romans; this work is now in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay. In 1880 he created a soffit for the Luxembourg Palace in homage to French sculpture.
Other relevant works include Pinel at the Salpêtrière (1876), where he depicts the pioneer of modern psychiatry, and Charlotte Corday at Caen (1875), centered on the trial that led to Corday's assassination of Marat. In 1882 he painted Vauban giving the plan of the fortifications of Belfort, where he combines narrative and architectural elements around the famous military engineer.
Robert-Fleury was a professor for many years at the Académie Julian, where he trained outstanding artists of different nationalities, such as Lovis Corinth, Édouard Vuillard, Louise-Cécile Descamps-Sabouret and Sir George Clausen. He was president of the Société des artistes français, succeeding William Bouguereau, and in 1908 he assumed the presidency of the Taylor Foundation, a position he held until his death. In 1907 he received the title of Commander of the Legion of Honor. His legacy remains linked to history painting and the pedagogical development of generations of artists.