Léon Herbo

LÉON HERBO (Belgium, 1850-1907).
Untitled, 1884.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the upper left corner.
Measurements: 80 x 60 cm.
This portrait is inscribed with naturalness in the tradition of the fin-de-siècle bourgeois portrait, but it reveals at the same time a sensibility. The figure appears frontal, stable, occupying the compositional axis with a serenity that imposes itself without affectation. She is dressed in a sober black suit, with a large red flower on her neck that stands out as the dominant chromatic accent.
The posture of the lady is simple and direct. Seated, with her hands resting on her knees that are barely insinuated out of the frame. A particularly eloquent detail is the difference between the two hands: one appears gloved, the other not. This contrast introduces a narrative subtlety, seeking a certain intimacy.
Léon Herbo was a Belgian painter known above all for his portraits of women in informal poses and for his effigies of actors and actresses. Trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Tournai under the direction of Léonce Legendre and later at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (1869-1874), where he won first place in the preparatory competition for the Prix de Rome.He traveled through Germany, Italy and France before settling in Brussels, broadening his stylistic horizon.
He exhibited for the first time in 1875 at the Brussels Salon and continued to do so until the end of the century. In 1876 he was a co-founder of the progressive group L'Essor, which emerged in opposition to academic conservatism, demonstrating his openness to new aesthetic currents. He also participated in salons in Paris, Munich and Berlin, and received an honorable mention at the Universal Exposition of 1889. His reputation as a portraitist was such that he was even commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, such as the portrait of Crown Prince Léopold Ferdinand, Count of Henao, painted for Queen Marie Henrietta. Today, most of his work is preserved in private collections, although he is also represented in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Museum of Painting and Sculpture of Kortrijk and the Museum of Fine Arts of Tournai.