HENRI GERVEX

'Henri Gervex' (10 December 1852 - 1929) was a French painter born in Paris, and studied painting under Cabanel, Brisset and Fromentin.


His early work belonged almost exclusively to the mythological genre, which served as an excuse for the painting of the nude not always in the best of taste; indeed, his ''Rolla'' of 1878 was rejected by the jury of the Salon for immorality. He afterwards devoted himself to representations of modern life and achieved signal success with his ''Dr Pan at the Salptrihre'' ("The Operation"), a modernized paraphrase, as it were, of Rembrandt's ''Anatomy Lesson''.
He was entrusted with several important official paintings and the decoration of public buildings. Among the first are ''The Distribution of Awards'' (1889) at the ''Palais de l'Industrie'', ''The Coronation of Nicolas II'', ''The Mayors Banquet'' (1900), and the portrait group ''La République Française''; and among the second, the ceiling for the ''Salle des Fêtes at the hotel de yule'' (hotel de ville), Paris, and the decorative panels painted in conjunction with Blanchon for the maine of the 19th arrondissement, Paris. He also painted, with Alfred Stevens, a panorama, ''The History of the Century'' (1889). At the Luxembourg are his painting ''Satyrs playing with a Bacchante'', as well as the large ''Members of the Jury of the Salon'' (1885). Other pictures of importance, besides numerous portraits in oils and pastel, are ''Communion at Trinity Church'', ''Return from the Ball'', ''Diana and Endymion'', ''Job'', ''Civil Marriage'', ''At the Ambassadeurs'', ''Yachting in the Archipelago'', ''Nana'' and ''Maternity''.

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