1814 -1882 · Kiel, Rome and Paris ingresque

Sovereign line, melancholic faces and large decorations make Henri Lehmann one of Ingres' most personal heirs in 19th century France.

Henri Lehmann, born Karl Rudolph Heinrich Lehmann in Kiel in 1814, received his first lessons from his father Leo, a portrait painter in Hamburg. He joined Paris in 1831 and entered the studio of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, whose authority left a lasting mark on his drawing. Admitted to the School of Fine Arts, he began at the Salon in 1835 then stayed in Munich and Rome. In the Italian capital, where Ingres directed the French Academy, Lehmann deepened his study of Antiquity and Raphael. He even participated in certain of the master's enterprises. Rome also introduced him to Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult. Their portraits, painted with a firm line and an economy of decor, were among the images the couple's most famous. The Portrait of Franz Liszt from 1839 combines the musician's sculptural profile with an almost romantic intensity. That of Marie de Flavigny, Countess of Agoult, gave worldly elegance an inner gravity. Returning to Paris in 1842, Lehmann became a French naturalizer in 1847 and led a very honored career. Portraits, religious paintings and large public sets followed one another for Saint-Merri, Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, the Luxembourg Palace, the Palais de Justice and the Town Hall. A significant part of these ensembles disappeared in the fires of 1871. Late portraits show his ability to represent modern power. Baron Haussmann appears less as a simple civil servant than as the embodiment of a transformed city. Conversely, Clémentine Karr retains the precision of drawing in a more intimate presence. Member of the Institute in 1864 then professor at the School of Fine Arts from 1875, Lehmann transmitted a demanding discipline of contour and composition. Died in Paris in 1882, he occupies a singular position: classic in method, romantic in temperament and fully modern in his models. Died in Paris in 1882, he occupies a singular position: classic in method, romantic in temperament and fully modern in his models. The "Henri Lehmann" selection notably compares Portrait of Franz Liszt and Marie de Flavigny, Countess of Agoult. His reading favors figures.

Lehmann inherits the orderly line from Ingres, but his portraits always reveal a worry: behind the perfect profile, the gaze keeps the secret of the model.