Jean-Jacques Enner son of an Alsatian peasant who became a great French artist and teacher

Jean-Jacques Henner (March 15, 1829 July 23, 1905) is a famous French artist of the 19th century, a prominent representative of academism in the history of European fine art. He was a versatile painter, he created many works on religious themes, portraits and landscapes, and also often turned to the genre in his work and painted paintings depicting nudity. The master’s biography is closely connected with Paris, where he lived most of his life.

Jean-Jacques Enner, unlike most representatives of French academism, was loyal to the work of the Impressionists and maintained friendly relations with many supporters of this trend. In addition, he devoted a lot of time and effort to teaching young colleagues, and among his students there were a large number of talented women artists.

Biography of Jean-Jacques Enner

Jean-Jacques Enner was born on March 5, 1829 in the small Alsatian town of Bernwiller in eastern France into a simple peasant family. From early childhood he was fond of drawing and while still in elementary school he began to paint portraits of acquaintances, landscapes and simple paintings depicting scenes from the everyday life of fellow countrymen.

Fortunately, the parents were not opposed to their son becoming an artist, so they sent 12-year-old Jean-Jacques to study as an art teacher at the local college Charles Goutzwiller (Charles Goutzwiller). After studying for two years with his first mentor, young Enner continued to study at the Strasbourg painting studio under the direction of Gabriel-Christophe Guérin, where he was considered one of the best students.

Thanks to his outstanding talent and hard work, the young artist earned the right to receive a scholarship from the local authorities of Alsace and was able to enter the Higher School of Fine Arts in Paris in 1848. At first he studied in the class of Michel Martin Drolling (Michel Martin Drolling), and after the death of the mentor continued his studies in the workshop of François-Édouard Picot. In his free time, Enner spent a lot of time in Parisian museums, where he enthusiastically made copies of paintings by the great masters of past eras Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Raphael (Raffaello Santi) and Nicolas Poussin (Nicolas Poussin).

Only on the third attempt in 1858, Jean-Jacques won the competition for the award of the Rome Prize and immediately left for the capital of Italy. The artist lived on the Apennine Peninsula for the next six years, during which time he traveled to all the main centers of Italian fine art, visited Venice, Florence, Parma, Siena, Naples and many other cities.

Returning to France in 1864, 35-year-old Jean-Jacques Enner was finally able to devote himself entirely to his professional career as a painter. He rented a studio near the historic center of Paris and quickly gained popularity with the metropolitan public. The artist regularly took part in art salons until 1903 and repeatedly received prestigious awards for his works.

In 1871, Jean-Jacques had a hard time going through the annexation of Alsace by the German Empire after the victory of Prussia over France in a bloody war. Suddenly he was cut off from his small homeland and reacted to what had happened by painting “Alsace, she is waiting.” This work was enthusiastically received by the public, the pictorial masterpiece was recognized by critics as the most striking artistic symbol and the personification of France’s loss of a historic province.

In 1874, Jean-Jacques Enner organized a private painting studio in Paris, in which, unlike the National School of Fine Arts, women could study. For 15 years he led this educational institution, until in 1889 he was elected professor of the Academy of Arts, where he continued his teaching career.

For many years, Enner led an active creative and social life. He was a member of several artistic associations and received many prestigious awards from the French authorities. Every year he visited his native Alsace, but always returned to the capital of France to continue working on paintings. At the zenith of his fame, Jean-Jacques Enner died on July 23, 1905 at his Paris home at the age of 76. He was buried in the Montmartre cemetery, where the remains of the great painter still lie today.

The most famous paintings by Jean-Jacques Enner

The brilliant French artist left hundreds of beautiful works of painting to descendants. And yet, some of the most famous paintings by Jean-Jacques Enner include:

• “Alsace, she is waiting” (1871) according to the majority of art critics, the best masterpiece of the master, created by him in a burst of surging feelings of sorrow and despair. The artist’s native region appears before the viewer in the form of a beautiful young girl in a black mourning robe.
• “Saint Fabiola” (1885) a portrait in profile of the famous Roman patroness of the suffering and sick. Unfortunately, the original painting was lost back in 1912, but the popular work was immortalized many times during the author’s lifetime in dozens of copies created by other artists.
• Pravda (1888-1892) is a very unusual masterpiece that remained unfinished. The master twice tried to create this picture, and the second time he began to paint it, turning the canvas with an already existing image by 90 degrees.
• “Etude. The Woman in Red “(1890) is the most famous work of the painter from among those kept in Russian museums. The image of the heroine evokes a feeling of deep sympathy in the viewer, fascinated by the beauty of a young girl.