“Ideal Head” By Jean-Jacques Henner (1829 – 1905)
Oil on Canvas
14” x 11” Unframed
21.5” x 18.5” Framed

Provenance:

The Estate of American Artist Robert Bruce Walker(1946-2020

Bio:

A French painter, he was born into a peasant family in the Sundgau and received his first artistic training at Altkirch with Charles Goutzwiller (1810-1900) and later in Strasbourg in the studio of Gabriel-Christophe Guérin (1790-1846). In 1846 he enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris as a pupil of Michel-Martin Drolling and, from 1851, of François-Edouard Picot.

While a student he was particularly drawn to portraiture, and during his frequent visits to Alsace he made portraits of his family as well as of the notables of the region. He also painted scenes of Alsatian peasant life (e.g. Marie-Ann Henner Churning Butter, 1856; Paris, Mus. Henner).

Although he painted history and portraits, he is probably best known for his prostrate nudes in dreamy landscapes rendered in murky chiaroscuro treatment of light and dark.

Collections:

The Metropolitan Museum

The National Gallery of Art

The Morgan Library and Museum

Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Art Institute of Chicago

Fine Arts Museum San Francisco

Hermitage St Petersburg Russia

The Louvre Museum Paris

Musee d’Orsay Paris

Museum of Fine Arts Boston

The Walters Art Museum

Clark Art Institute

Cleveland Museum of Art

Columbia Museum of Art

Hood Museum of Art

Indianapolis Museum of Art

Los Angeles Museum of Art

National Gallery of Victoria Australia

Princeton University Art Museum

St Louis Art Museum

San Diego Museum of Art

State Museum of Florence Italy

Reunion des Musees Nationaux France

Musees National Jean-Jacques Henner France.