1804 -1892 · History painting, religious inspiration and gallery of Versailles

Severe drawing, eloquent gestures, biblical subjects and royal portraits characterize Émile Signol, an academic painter marked by Rome and the Nazarenes.

Émile Signol was born in Paris in 1804 and trained at the School of Fine Arts in the workshops of Merry-Joseph Blondel and Antoine-Jean Gros. Winner of the Grand Prix de Rome in 1830, he stayed at the Villa Medici and got closer to the religious sensitivity of the Nazarenes, attentive to the purity of drawing and Renaissance models. The Death of Virginie, presented at the Salon of 1833, already demonstrated his taste for moral narrative, readable attitudes and the seriousness of expressions. The Death of Virginie, presented at the Salon of 1833, already demonstrated his taste for moral narrative, readable attitudes and the seriousness of expressions. Back in France, Signol received numerous commissions for the moral narrative, readable attitudes and seriousness of expressions. Back in France, Signol received numerous commissions for Parisian churches, notably Saint-Séverin, Saint-Eustache, Saint-Roch and Madeleine. He also participated in the vast historical program desired by Louis-Philippe at Versailles, painting Merovingian sovereigns and Saint Louis. The Adulterous Woman, dated 1840 and kept at the Louvre, combines biblical subject, monumental construction and emotional restraint. Professor at the School of Fine Arts then member of the Institute, Signol trained several generations of artists. He died in Paris in 1892. The "Émile Signol" selection notably compared The Death of Virginie and Childeric II. His reading favors space.

Signol subjects the drama to clarity: each gesture, each look and each drapery serves the moral reading of the story.