Émile Vernet-Lecomte (), born Charles Émile Hippolyte Lecomte (15 March 1821,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

- 19 November 1900, Paris) was a French painter; best known for his Orientalist works.

Biography

He came from a family of illustrious painters. His great-grandfather was

Claude Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (; 14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Carle Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet (1689–1753 ...

and his father was the

battle painter A war artist is an artist either commissioned by a government or publication, or self-motivated, to document first-hand experience of war in any form of illustrative or depictive record.Imperial War Museum (IWM)header phrase, "war shapes lives" ...

Hippolyte Lecomte Hippolyte Lecomte (; 28 December 1781, Puiseaux – 25 July 1857, Paris) was a French painter best known for large scale historical paintings and ballet designs. His wife, born Camille Vernet, was the sister of the painter Émile Jean-Horace ...

; who was himself the son-in-law of

Carle Vernet Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, better known as Carle Vernet (; 14 August 175827 November 1836), was a French painter, the youngest child of Claude-Joseph Vernet and the father of Horace Vernet. Biography Vernet was born in Bordeaux. At the a ...

, and the nephew of

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (; 30 June 178917 January 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects. Biography Early career Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famo ...

. The last named was one of his teachers; along with

Léon Cogniet Léon Cogniet (29 August 1794 – 20 November 1880) was a French history and portrait painter. He is probably best remembered as a teacher, with more than one hundred notable students. Biography He was born in Paris. His father was a painter ...

. He began by painting portraits of the aristocracy and the wealthy bourgeoisie. His first exhibition at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

took place in 1843, and he was awarded a bronze medal. After that, he signed his paintings as "Vernet-Lecomte". He soon developed a taste for Orientalism. His first works in that genre were exhibited at the Salon in 1847; including numerous portraits of Middle Eastern women. Current events were not ignored, however, and he followed in father's footsteps by creating works depicting the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, and the slaughter of the

Maronites Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally resided near Mount ...

by the

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

, during the

1860 Mount Lebanon civil war The 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus, also known as the 1860 Christian–Druze war, was a civil conflict in Mount Lebanon during Ottoman rule in 1860–1861 fought mainly between the local Druze and Christians. Following decisiv ...

. His works may be seen at the and the

Musée Calvet The Calvet Museum (, ) is the main museum in Avignon. Since the 1980s the collection has been split between two buildings, with the fine arts housed in an 18th-century hôtel particulier and a separate Lapidary Museum (Avignon), Lapidary Museum in ...

Gallery

File:Vernet-Lecomte 2.jpg, Aimée, a young Egyptian woman, 1869 File:Portrait of a Black Woman.jpg, Portrait of a Black woman in loose fitting white robe and wearing an orange striped headwrap File:Young Amazigh woman, Algeria (1869), by Emile Vernet-Lecomte.jpg, Young Amazigh woman, Algeria, 1869 File:Emile Lecomte-Vernet-Ugolin et ses fils.jpg, Ugolino and his sons File:Vernet-Lecomte 7.jpg, Bachi-Bouzouk looking at his loot, 1862

Sources

* Lynne Thornton, ''Les Orientalistes Peintres voyageurs'', ACR Édition Poche Couleur, Courbevoie, 1994,

External links

More works by Vernet-Lecomte
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Vernet-Lecomte, Emile 1821 births 1900 deaths 19th-century French painters French orientalists Painters from Paris