Fernand Cormon (24 December 1845 – 20 March 1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. According to ''Diccionario Enciclopedi ...

Eugène Fromentin Eugène Fromentin (24 October 182027 August 1876) was a French painter and writer, now better remembered for his writings. Life He was born in La Rochelle. After leaving school he studied for some years under Louis Cabat, the landscape painter. ...

, and

Jean-François Portaels Jean-François Portaels or Jan Portaels (3 April 1818 – 8 February 1895) was a Belgian painter of genre scenes, biblical stories, landscapes, portraits and orientalist subjects. He was also a teacher and director of the Academy of Fine Arts ...

, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France.

Biography

His father was the playwright

Eugène Cormon Pierre-Étienne Piestre, known as Eugène Cormon (5 May 1810 – March 1903), was a French dramatist and librettist. He used his mother's name, Cormon, during his career. Cormon wrote dramas, comedies and, from the 1840s, libretti; around 15 ...

. His mother was Charlotte Furais, the actress. At an early age he attracted attention for the perceived

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotion ...

in his art, although for a time his powerful brush dwelled with particular delight on scenes of bloodshed, such as the ''Murder in the Seraglio'' (1868) and the ''Death of Ravana, King of Lanka'' at the

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

Museum. The

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

has his ''Cain fleeing before Jehovah's Curse''; and for the Mairie of the fourth arrondissement of Paris he executed in

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; french: grisaille, lit=greyed , from ''gris'' 'grey') is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many g ...

a series of panels: ''Birth, Death, Marriage, War'', etc. ''A Chiefs Funeral'', and a series of large paintings for the Museum of natural history in Paris with themes from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

, occupied him for several years. He was appointed to the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1880. Subsequently he also devoted himself to portraiture. Being well-accepted at the annual

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

, he also ran an art school, the Atelier Cormon in the 1880s where he tried to guide his students to create paintings which would be accepted by the Salon's jury. Among his students with whom he was unsuccessful on this point were, for instance:

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...

Louis Anquetin Louis Émile Anquetin (26 January 1861 – 19 August 1932) was a French painter. Biography Anquetin was born in Étrépagny, France, and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen. In 1882 he came to Paris and began studying art at Lé ...

Eugène Boch Eugène Boch (1 September 1855 – 3 January 1941) was a Belgian painter, born in Saint-Vaast, La Louvière, Hainaut. He was the younger brother of Anna Boch, a founding member of Les XX. Life Eugène Boch was born into the fifth generation ...

, Paul Tampier,

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his nota ...

and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

. Other students included

Alphonse Osbert Alphonse Osbert (23 March 1857 – 11 August 1939) was a French Symbolist painter. Educated at the École des Beaux-Arts, his earliest passion was for the great Spanish masters, particularly Jusepe de Ribera. A shift away from his academic style ...

Marius Borgeaud Marius Borgeaud (21 September 1861 – 16 July 1924) was a Swiss Post-Impressionist painter. He was born in Lausanne. Early life Borgeaud came from a bourgeois milieu; he attended the Industrial School of Lausanne and did not intend to pursue pa ...

Theodor Pallady Theodor Pallady (; 11 April 1871 – 16 August 1956) was a Romanian painter. Biography Theodor Pallady was the son of Ioan Pallady and Maria Cantacuzino, the older sister of Romanian diplomat Neculai B. Cantacuzino. He was born in Iași, Romani ...

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a Belarusian painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the ...

and the Australian painter John Russell. Despite his moment of glory as a Beaux-Arts professor he was almost forgotten by 1924 when he was run over by a taxi outside his studio, and is barely remembered today save as the teacher of pupils more illustrious than himself.

David Sweetman David Sweetman (16 March 1943 – 7 April 2002) was a British writer, critic, teacher and broadcaster. Early life Born David Robert Sweetman in 1943, he left Dilston in 1960 to study Fine Art at King's College, Newcastle (University of Durh ...

(1999), ''Explosive Acts'', (published in the UK as ''Toulouse-Lautrec and the fin-de-siècle''), New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 94

Selected paintings

File:Murder in the Seraglio by Fernand Cormon (1874).jpg, ''Murder in the

Seraglio A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) is a castle, palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former Ott ...

,'' (1874) Image:Fernand CORMON - La Mort de Ravana - Musée des Augustins - 2004 1 139.jpg, ''The Death of

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He a ...

,
King of

Lanka Lanka (, ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary asura king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known ...

'' (1875) File:Cormon, Fernand - Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse.jpg, ''

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He wa ...

fleeing before
Jehovah's Curse'' (1880) File:A Forge 1894 Fernand Cormon.jpg, ''A

Forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

'' (1894) File:Fernand Cormon In Erwartung.jpg, ''Anticipation'' (date unknown) File:Cormon Fernand Le harem Oil On Canvas.jpg, ''A

Harem Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...

'' (c.1877) File:The Deposed Favourite.jpg, ''The Deposed Favorite''
(date unknown) File:Fernand Cormon 006.jpg, ''Going Fishing'' (1888)

References

External links

Atelier Cormon ~1885
(note e.g. rom left; mind inscriptionsToulouse-Lautrec, Tampier, Anquetin; last row, second after sculpture, É. Bernard). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cormon, Fernand 1845 births 1924 deaths 19th-century French painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Academic art Painters from Paris French male painters Recipients of the Legion of Honour Orientalist painters Members of the Académie des beaux-arts People of Montmartre 19th-century French male artists