Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ (1842-1923) Une étude d'épaule et de dos, étude à l'huile

Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ (1842-1923)
A shoulder and back study, oil study
oil on canvas
34 x 19.5 cm
In good condition, a few small inpaintings visible under UV lights
Stamp of the Estate sale in Toulouse
In a modern frame : 40 x 25 cm

Provenance :
Estate of the artist and family of the artist by descent
Estate sale in Toulouse 22 June 1999

This very interesting oil study was part of a set kept by the artist. He had studied fragments of anatomy both to use them as models in large compositions but probably also because he represented so many fragments.
It is clear that this fragment of anatomy has a power of suggestion and serves as a relay to the imagination of the viewer, who is led to imagine the rest of the body taken as a model. We can speak of metonymy in painting and it is clear that the artist had this in mind when he kept such studies with him.

Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ was born on 10 June 1842 in Paris.
Originally of aPiedmonteseorigin, his family had been settled in France since the fourteenth century and by the time of his birth had reached the status of nobility
He was anOrientalistFrench painter and sculptor.
He was strongly influenced by the works and teachings ofCharles GleyreandJean-Léon Gérôme. Lecomte du Nouÿ found inspiration for his art through extensive travels to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Romania and Italy.

The thematic content of Lecomte du Nouÿ's work was mainly figural, but also spanned over a vast range of imagery throughout his career, including classical, historical and religious.
Lecomte du Nouÿ is known for remaining faithful to his detailed, realistic style throughout the extent of his career, despite the onset of theImpressionist,FauvistandConstructivistartistic movements during his lifetime. His work is said to have contributed significantly to the establishment of an iconic repertoire representing the Orient in the nineteenth century.AParisianstreet was named after him in 1932.

Lecomte du Nouÿ showed a strong attachment to visual art from a young age and was reported to have painted portraits of his father and uncle by the age of 6.
In 1861, at 19 years of age, the artistic talents of young Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ prompted him to become a pupil at the atelier of Swiss artist, Charles Gleyre. Under Gleyre's guidance Jean-Jules-Antoine learned the significance of individualistic style and gained the foundations of creative visual presentation.
Later, Lecomte du Nouy further perfected his knowledge of the artistic form under the mentorship of Jean-Léon Gérôme, who was a renowned painter of theAcademicism movement. It was at this time that Jean-Jules-Antoine learned the precision required to depict "la belle nature" —a style of illustration that aims to create the most beautiful representations of the natural form. This later became one of the main techniques employed in Lecomte du Nouÿ's signature artwork.
In 1865, Du Nouÿ accompanied fellow artist,Félix Auguste Clément, on his travels to Cairo, Egypt. It was after this voyage that the young Lecompte du Nouy sought to portray the opulence of the Orient. In later years, he continued his travels, visiting countries like Italy and Greece. Lecompte du Nouy found inspiration in all social, historical and literary facets of foreign culture.
The Orientalist style is largely characterized by its content, but also by its subdued realism and precision allotted towards depicting the human form. The latter is a prominent characteristic of the 19th century methods upheld by theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts. Du Nouÿ was a prominent figure within the sphere of academic art and thereby adhered to a rule-based artistic style of well-developed skill and formal composition. The artistic composition of his paintings was often complemented by the use of half-light, which added certain dramatic and melancholic qualities to his work. To this day some, like Alan Braddock, consider Du Nouÿ to have been decidedly modern for his time, because his work directly and indirectly broached some of the key issues of his day, albeit from a decidedly conservative perspective: colonialism, international trade, gender, religion, and history. Du Nouÿ spent most of the later years of his life inRomania. There he painted primarily the royal family and their subjects.However, he returned to Paris right before his death on 19 February 1923.

Artworks by Lecomyte du Nouy are held by museums such as Cleveland Museum of Art, Dahesh Museum of Art in New York, Worcester Art Museum, Musée d'Orsay in Paris, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, etc....