Portrait de Mme Kaufmann

Painted in 1856 in Mulhouse, 'Portrait de Mme Kaufmann' predates Jean-Jacques Henner's Prix de Rome period and documents his pre-Italian style. In 1856 Henner was completing his Ecole des Beaux-Arts training in Paris and preparing for the Prix de Rome competition — a work from this year represents him at the threshold of his decisive Italian formation. A portrait commission in Mulhouse connects him to his Alsatian origins: Mulhouse was a major Alsatian textile city, and the Kaufmann family name suggests connection to the prosperous bourgeoisie of that region who would have been natural portrait patrons for a talented local-born painter seeking to build a career. The Musée des beaux-arts de Mulhouse preserves this as a regional document of Henner's pre-Rome period, valuable for its evidence of the academic style he brought to Rome before the Italian masters transformed it.

Oil on canvas in Henner's pre-Italian academic style: likely more linear and cooler than his mature work, reflecting the Davidian training he received in Paris. Portrait demands of likeness and dignity are met within conventional academic portrait formats. The contrast with his post-Rome work would be instructive for understanding the Italian transformation of his technique.