1834 -1912 · Paris, Rome, Salon and Académie Julian

Academic drawing, mythology and female portraits give Jules Joseph Lefebvre an emblematic mastery of the figure in the 19th century.

Jules Joseph Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie in 1834. A student of Léon Cogniet at the Paris School of Fine Arts, he started at the Salon in 1855 and won the Prix de Rome in 1861 with The Death of Priam. His stay at the Villa Medici reinforced his study of Antiquity, Raphael and the great nude tradition. After his beginnings in history painting, Lefebvre found lasting fame with idealized female figures, mythological subjects and numerous portraits. After his beginnings in history painting, Lefebvre found lasting fame with idealized female figures, mythological subjects and numerous portraits. After his beginnings in history painting, Lefebvre found lasting fame with idealized female figures, mythological subjects and numerous portraits. The Truth, presented in 1870, combined anatomical precision, frontality and moral symbol. Diane Surprise, Nymphe and Bacchus and Une Japonaise adapted this rigorous drawing to very different imaginations, from Antiquity to japonism. Smooth skin tones, clean contours and skillfully balanced pose characterize his language. An influential professor at the Académie Julian, Lefebvre trained several generations of French and foreign artists, including many women who found access to academic study in this institution. Exhibitor at the Salon for more than half a century, he embodies both technical excellence and the continuity of the figurative ideal. A Salon exhibitor for more than half a century, he embodies both technical excellence and the continuity of the figurative ideal. The "Jules Joseph Lefebvre" selection notably compares Une Japonaise and Diane Surprise. His reading favors drawing.

Lefebvre constructs the figure as an idea made visible: the drawing ensures the truth of the body, the pose gives it its symbol.