Lionel Royer

LIONEL ROYER (Château-du-Loir, 1852 - Neuilly-sur-Seine; 1926).
"Venetian beauty".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 52 x 43 cm; 62,5 x 53 cm (frame).

The painting represents a young woman of half body, in the foreground, placed in front of a recognizable Venetian landscape: in the background are distinguished the Doge's Palace and the lagoon of Venice, with its characteristic obelisks or columns of the Piazzetta of San Marcos.

The female figure is presented in a deep red robe, with a velvety texture, which stands out for its chromatic richness and luminosity. The attention to detail is meticulous: the fabric seems tangible, almost tactile, a usual quality in Royer's painting.

The young woman's face is oval with idealized features: fair complexion, perfectly delineated carmine lips, large, clear eyes, and a serene expression that conveys a melancholic, contemplative beauty. Her long, honey-colored hair falls freely, and is adorned with a bejeweled diadem or net braided with pearls, evoking Renaissance headdresses.

Her right hand, with long, slender fingers, delicately holds a gold pendant hanging from her neck, a gesture that adds an introspective nuance, as if the object had a sentimental or symbolic value.

Royer, trained in the French academic tradition, shows special technical virtuosity in the depiction of fabrics, jewelry, flesh tones and architecture. The coloring is vibrant, with a predilection for warm and luminous tones.

The woman is an archetype of refined beauty, inspired by Italian Renaissance and English Pre-Raphaelite models.

The artist combines academic rigor with a restrained sensuality, expressed in the texture of velvet, the delicacy of the gesture and the introspective gaze.

Lionel Royer was a French painter of late academicism, trained in the workshop of Cabanel, and known mainly for his historical scenes and idealized portraits. Although many of his works represent episodes of French history - such as Vercingétorix surrenders to Julius Caesar (1899) - he also cultivated a genre of elegant or allegorical female figures, where his interest in detail, light and the sensuality of color can be observed.

Enrolled at the age of eighteen in the Volunteers of the West, he participated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, standing out notably in the battle of Loigny with General Athanase de Charette de la Contrie. The latter, perceiving the young Royer's talent for drawing, offered him a scholarship to the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. He later became a student of Alexandre Cabanel and William Adolphe Bouguereau. He obtains the second position in the Prize of Rome in 1882. Later he will devote himself as a portrait painter in great demand and above all, as a painter of historical scenes. His best known works are "Vercingetorix gives his weapons to Julius Caesar" (1899) and the decoration and frescoes of the basilica of Domrémy dedicated to Joan of Arc. In commemoration of his participation in the battle of Loigny, Royer donated two canvases to the newly rebuilt church of Loigny, the first one representing the mass for the Western Volunteers before leaving for the war and the second one showing the agonizing night of the general of Sonis on the battlefield.

He participated in the illustrated supplements of the newspapers of the time as a critic and commentator of his time, especially when he painted the polemic "Alfred Dreyfus in his prison" or "Auguste Comte and the three muses".

In 1897 Royer made a donation to the Maine Historical and Archaeological Society of ten watercolor sketches representing the Life of Joan of Arc - executed and submitted in 1893 to the stained glass competition of the Orleans Cathedral, they were rejected. Later, Royer takes up this religious iconography (assisted by Charles Lorin, master glassmaker of Chartres) in the aforementioned basilica of Domrémy. As a curiosity it should be noted that in the stained glass of the "Delivery of the sword by the Angel", the face of Xaintrailles (companion of Joan of Arc) bears the features of the architect Paul Sédille, author of the Basilica.