Danae (1900)

Carolus-Duran: Danäe

Danäe is depicted here locked away from the reach of all men by her father - well, almost - and down from the roof comes Zeus in the shower of gold.

In Greek myth, Danäe was the royal daughter of Acrisius, an ancient king of Argos. After an oracle warned her father that Danäe's son would someday kill him, Acrisius had his daughter shut up inside a sealed room, atop an impenetrable bronze tower, away from all men. However, Zeus -- the amorous and all-powerful king of gods - desired Danäe. He came to her through the roof of the sealed chamber, in the form of a shower of gold that poured down into her lap. As a result of this union, Danäe had a son - Perseus - the hero who later took on the chilling Medusa. [John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery]

Hébé (ca. 1895)

Emile Carolus-Duran: Hébé

Portrait of Lucy Lee Robbins (1884)

Emile Carolus-Duran: Portrait of Lucy Lee Robbins

Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran was a painter, teacher, and member of several French arts organizations. In 1872, he opened a studio in Paris, France.  His studio welcomed James McNeil Whistler, a young John Singer Sargent, and aspiring female artists through workshops, or ateliers. One promising artist of the women’s atelier was Lucy Lee-Robbins. Dressed in a fine black cloth, Lucy Lee-Robbins gingerly leans and rests her right arm on the chair. A favorite student and model of Carolus-Duran, she began painting around 1884 and debuted at the Salon of the Société de Artistes Français in 1887. She wanted the same artistic opportunities that were available to her peers in the male dominated French art world. [Chrysler Museum]

Vision (1883)

Carolus-Duran: Vision

Vision (1882)

Carolus-Duran: Vision

Portrait of Madame Marie Clerc (1874)

Carolus-Duran: Portrait of Madame Marie Clerc

Mme. Clerc was the second wife of a well-known Parisian public administrator. She was an accomplished musician and held popular music recitals at her home on the rue de Monceau. [Christie’s]

Portrait of a Little Girl (1870)

Carolus-Duran: Portrait of a Little Girl

Merrymakers (1870)

Carolus-Duran: Merrymakers

During the second half of the 1800s, Paris, France, likely had more artists than any other city in the history of the world. We most often think of the Impressionists during this period, but really, they made up a very small percentage of the more than 12,000 working artists during that era. The vast majority, mostly trained in Paris' famed Ecole des Beaux Arts, were what we call today "Academicians." The best of them taught at the school, the rest only wished they could. The best of them painted history, mythology, allegories, lots of naked goddesses, and the occasional naked god. The rest of them only tried. Some of the artists from that period have all but become household names--Monet, Manet, Sargent, Whistler, Cezanne, Cassatt, but not Charles Auguste Émile Durand. Even the name he was known by, professionally, Carolus-Duran (no "d" on the end), doesn't set off any chimes. Yet, second only to John Singer Sargent, Carolus-Duran was likely the most highly regarded portrait artist in Paris during the fading years of the 19th century.

Although Carolus-Duran painted more than his share of pretty pretentious paintings, and his portraits were, at best, "stylish," it's the artists' peripheral work I find most interesting. His The Merrymakers, though the artist might hate the term, is really quite "modern." It doesn't sink to the level of genre (the bottom rung in the painting hierarchy at the time) yet it seems endearing, a restaurant, a playful child, a doting, laughing mother and her friend--a scene played out daily all around the world, both then and now. [Art Now and Then]

The Lady with the Glove (1869)

Carolus-Duran: The Lady with the Glove

The Lady with the Glove, a life-sized full-length portrait of the artist's young wife, was a great success at the 1869 Salon, where it won a medal. Regarded by the critics as the archetypal formal portrait, the work shows a sober composition, masterful drawing and delicate use of color that recall David and Ingres. Standing out from a near-empty background painted in shades of grey and black, and the dark, changing colors of the gown, three interrelated elements catch the eye: the young woman's face and fashionable hairstyle, her hands, one drawing off a pearly grey glove, and the glove on the ground underlined by the painter's signature, in red. This anecdotal detail gives the work a modern instantaneous look that helps us understand why Emile Zola saw in Carolus-Duran a disciple of Manet. [Musée d’Orsay]