Jean-Jacques Henner

(French,1829-1905)

Jean-Jacques Henner was a French painter noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects and portraits. Born in Bernwiller, Alsace, he began his artistic studies as a student of neoclassic painters Michel Martin Drolling and François-Edouard Picot. In 1848, Henner entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Later in his career, from 1874 to 1889, Henner directed “the studio of the ladies” for women who were not allowed entry to the École.

Henner’s first accolade was the 1858 Prix de Rome for his painting of Adam and Eve discovering the body of Abel. He exhibited Bather Asleep at the Paris Salon in 1863. Notable works include Chaste Suzanne (1865, Musée d’Orsay), The Magdalene (1878), Christ Entombed (1879), Nu Debout (1880), Saint Jerome (1881), Herodias (1887), Christ in His Shroud, and Portrait of Carolus-Duran (1896), The Levite of the Tribe of Ephraim (1898), and The Dream (1900). Notably, he won the grand prize during the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. In 1873, the French Legion of Honor bestowed Henner with the title of Chevalier, followed by Officer in 1878 and Commander in 1889.

His most widely recognized work is the lost portrait of Saint Fabiola (1885), which has been copied by artists throughout the world. A collection of over 500 copies of this painting, known as the Fabiola project, was exhibited in Houston, Texas in 2018 at the Byzantine Fresco Chapel of the Menil Collection. Henner’s works are currently in private and permanent collections at museums throughout the world, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.