22. Albert Besnard, Portrait of Sculptor Jules Lafrance

Albert Besnard was a major figure in the artistic life of France, beginning with winning the Prix de Rome (Rome Prize) at age twenty-five. The award entitled him to a four-year residency at the French Academy in Rome, housed at Villa Medici. Soon after arriving, he met the sculptor Jules Lafrance (1841–1881), who was likely just ending his own stay at the villa. In this portrait, Besnard lets Lafrance attract our attention with his sense of style and studied nonchalance. The sitter’s fine clothes and elegant grooming communicate his rank among the erudite few. The sculptor sits sideways on a chair, with his left elbow resting on the back. His head leans on his right hand, a traditional sign of melancholy, which in turn is associated with artistic creativity.

Well after his subject had left Rome, Besnard used the same pose to make a pastel portrait of Lafrance (fig. 1). While the present oil shows Lafrance at half-length, the pastel zeroes in on his face.¹ It is unknown whether Besnard painted portraits of other colleagues in Rome or whether he intended small studies such as the Lafrance portrait as preparatory steps toward larger paintings. Regardless, here he has captured the spirit of a young academic artist in training, one who would go on to a prize-winning, if abbreviated, career. Besnard’s own later achievements included directorship of the French Academy in Rome.

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