Portrait Of A Friend Of Emile Vernon Born In Blois In 1872 Died 1920 - Signed Lower Right Dated 1891

Very fine portrait of a friend by Emile Vernon Born in Blois 1872 Died 1920 - Signed Bottom Right Dated 1891
High-quality portraiture by Emile Vernon, internationally renowned for his series of portraits of elegant women. This is an early portrait on which there has been a small professional restoration of a slight tear that is no longer visible today.
Biography Emile VERNON

Born on March 14, 1872 in Blois, Émile Vernon was a French painter with talent and style. From a modest background, the Blois native quickly showed an interest in painting. He trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Tours, where he won first prize for drawing in 1888, before continuing his studies in Paris under William Bouguereau and Auguste Truphème.

From the outset, Émile Vernon attracted the attention of the public and his peers. In 1898, he took part in the Exposition des Beaux-Arts et des Arts Décoratifs in Tours, launching his artistic career. He exhibited regularly at the Salon des artistes français until 1913, presenting portraits, landscapes and floral paintings. He also painted murals, including those for the Châtellerault theater in 1899, which demonstrated his artistic versatility.
However, it was in watercolor paintings that Émile Vernon truly excelled. His works featured vivid colors, bucolic settings and delicately depicted characters. His favorite subjects were women and children, surrounded by flowers, pets and garlands.

Despite his success with collectors, Émile Vernon remained relatively unknown during his lifetime. His art, considered by some to be academic and lacking in the innovation sought after at the time, was criticized by proponents of modernism and contemporary art. Yet his paintings captivated art lovers who appreciated his technical mastery, balanced composition and charming aesthetic.

Mobilized in the Territorial Infantry in 1915, Vernon was discharged on medical grounds the following year. He died prematurely on January 31, 1920, leaving behind him a lasting artistic legacy. Today, art lovers and collectors are turning to his work to rediscover the charm of early twentieth-century academic art. While contemporary art often dominates discussions of modern art, Émile Vernon's delicate, graceful paintings continue to attract the attention of connoisseurs who appreciate their classical aesthetic.


Mobilized in the Territorial Infantry in 1915, Vernon was discharged on medical grounds the following year. He died prematurely on January 31, 1920, leaving behind a marked artistic legacy. Today, art lovers and collectors are turning to his work to rediscover the charm of early twentieth-century academic art. While contemporary art often dominates discussions of modern art, Émile Vernon's delicate, graceful paintings continue to attract the attention of connoisseurs who appreciate their classical aesthetic.

Art cannot be reduced to a matter of taste or innovation, and Émile Vernon's work is a case in point. His paintings offer a window on a bygone era, when a certain beauty, softness and a form of elegance were celebrated. Those were the days.

Émile Vernon's vaporous figures
Despite an artistic output much appreciated by collectors, little is known about Émile Vernon's training and work.
A painter of modest origins, he studied painting from an early age at the École des Beaux-Arts in Tours, his native city (1872) in central France. He was awarded first prize for drawing in 1888.
He then studied under William Bouguereau (1829-1905), a painter representative of academic painting, and Auguste Truphème (1836-1898) at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1898, he took part in the Exposition des Beaux-Arts en Arts Décoratifs in Tours and launched his artistic career at the Salon des Artistes Français. He exhibited there regularly until 1913, showing portraits, landscapes, Breton subjects, watercolor bouquets and the female figures he specialized in.
He also painted a number of murals, such as those for the theater in Châtellerault in 1899. He showed remarkable talent in watercolor, “a paint diluted with water, light and transparent”.
Women and children in vivid colors and bucolic settings play a major role. Vernon was also very rigorous in his portraits of his wife.
Émile Vernon excelled in vaporous figures of children and young elegant ladies, often associated with a pet, garlands or bunches of flowers, which he painted throughout his career.
But the artist also knew how to show more rigor and severity, for example in the portrait of Madame Vernon, Sous la Lampe. The artist's graphic mastery and his skillful, seductive lighting make his portraits charming pieces of great plastic quality.
Émile Vernon was drafted into the infantry in 1915, but was discharged on medical grounds the following year. He died prematurely in January 1920.