Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger (1824-1888)
Today we'll introduce a painter, not an illustrator, who made several pretty good paintings and left important legacy in the world of art.
This is the painting of one the scenes from the one of the most popular and influential books in France, A Tale of 1001 Nights:
And as becomes kind of tradition, I managed to find few additional interesting facts about Boulanger's life:
- His parents were Creoles, he became orphan at 14 years and his uncle took care of him. Uncle arranged an artistic education for Gustave Boulanger at Pierre-Louis Jolivet (1794-1871) and later at Paul Delaroche (1797-1856) who made greatest impact on development of young artist with his realistic, almost scientific approach to painting.
- Boulanger won prestigious Prix de Rome in 1849 with Ulysses Recognized by his Nurse. Compositions from Greek and Roman mythology stayed among his main interests for the rest of his life, together with historical themes. After first visit in Algeria he also started to paint Oriental compositions (as above) and he was successful at decoration (Paris Opera, Casino of Monte Carlo etc.) too. He landed several of these well payed jobs thanks to his friendship with fellow student Charles Garnier (1825-1898) who became well known architect.
- Boulanger's work was selling very well and he became an influential teacher at Institut de France (Academy of Fine Arts) in 1882. He was well known by his dislike of impressionists. One of his students was Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel (1851-1913) who became extremely famous illustrator of children's books.
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