Henri Paul Royer ( 1869 - 1938 ) - Child At La Fontaine.

Oil on panel Signed lower right
Annotated on the reverse on an old exhibition label (Ghent): Henri Royer and titled “Child at the fountain”.
Inscription in pencil: “Bought at the Nancy exhibition in 1899”.
Dimensions: 32 x 41 cm With frame: 41 x 50 cm

Charming painting by Henri Royer, certainly brought back from one of his trips to the Mediterranean, representing a little girl sitting on the edge of a fountain leaning against a terracotta jar. A lively touch, a precise design, measured color harmonies in pinkish beiges, enhanced by the soft green of the vegetation. A harmonious and balanced work.

Bibliography

Henri Royer, genre painter, portrait painter and landscape painter born in Nancy. He is the son of Jules Royer, creator of one of the most important lithographic printing works in Nancy. Immersed in the art world, Royer joined the Nancy School of Fine Arts where he met Émile Friant. and exhibited his first works at the Salon de Nancy. These early successes prompted his parents and teachers to encourage a study trip to the Netherlands with Emile Friant. Upon his return in 1888, he enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris where he was a pupil of Jules Joseph Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger. In 1890, he made his debut at the Salon with the canvas entitled "Le Vagabond", for which he was awarded an honorable mention. He will be repeatedly rewarded; he won the 1898 National Prize and the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. He was named Knight of the Legion of Honor on December 14, 1907. In 1901 he was offered the direction of the women's workshop at the Académie Julian, which he accepted. In 1906, he participated in the decoration of the Villa Majorelle in Nancy. His trip to Brittany in 1896 had a profound effect on him and until the end of his life, Royer would endeavor to paint the people of the place. Having lived for a long time in North and South America and traveled through Europe from where he brought back Greek and Sicilian landscapes. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on October 31, 1938. In 2008, an exhibition was organized in Audierne to pay tribute to the painter.

Bibliography

• Meeting of National Museums, The School of Nancy, 1889-1909: Art Nouveau and art industries, 1999, 357 p.
• Gérald Schurr, 1820-1920, the little masters of painting
• Value of tomorrow, vol. 3, Editions de l'Amateur, 1986. • National Museums Council, Revue du Louvre: the review of French museums, vol. 52, 2002.
• Garcot, Gaudel and Thiry, “Henri Royer”, Le Pays lorrain, Nancy, Berger-Levrault, no 7, July 1939
• Gabriel Weisberg and Karal Ann Marling, Montmartre and the Making of Mass Culture, London, Rutgers University Press, 2001,

Museums:
France
• Paris, Louvre Museum; Musée d'Orsay • Nancy, Museum of Fine Arts Brest, Museum of Fine Arts • Quimper, Museum of Fine Arts

Brazil
• Rio de Janeiro, Museum of Fine Arts: On the hill, 1891