Q104444790

This second 1861 work by Jean-Jacques Henner in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Paris likewise belongs to his Prix de Rome period, when he was stationed in Italy and conducting the intensive study of Renaissance and Baroque masters that would shape his entire subsequent career. Henner's Roman years were unusually productive: he produced numerous figure studies, portraits of local models, and landscape sketches alongside his required academic exercises. The year 1861 falls midway through his residency, when his technical confidence was growing and his personal aesthetic — soft sfumato figures against dark or neutral backgrounds — was crystallizing. The Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris collection preserves multiple works from this period, suggesting Henner or the French state retained or donated examples as documentation of the formative stage of an important career. The absence of a recorded title for this Wikidata entry reflects gaps in historical documentation for works that remained in institutional collections rather than entering the auction market.

Oil paint on canvas or panel, this Roman-period work demonstrates Henner's emerging signature: warm, glowing flesh rendered through superimposed glazes that create depth and translucency. The technique owes more to Correggio and Titian than to the dry academic tradition of the Parisian ateliers from which he emerged.