License to Paint

The creative lives of many 19th-century French artists followed a similar route, beginning with academic studies, followed by a priviledged apprenticeship in Rome, and culminating with the display of their work in the Paris Salon. These artists’ paintings depicted religious and mythological themes, including portraits and still lifes. Intended primarily to decorate the homes of the bourgeois or the aristocracy, their work followed the Academy of Art’s strict guidelines for defining tasteful art. This exhibition features works by leading artists of the time including Dominique Ingres, Eugène Delacroix, and Gustav Moreau, whose paintings exemplify the period’s stringent academic standards. As the focus shifted to the Impressionists and their successors, the fame of these artists faded. License to Paint presents a rare opportunity to re-encounter the artistic style which at one time reigned in France.

Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour, French, 1836 – 1904 Gladioli and Roses, 1881 Oil on canvas Bequest of Ignace Hellenberg, Paris, to the State of Israel, in Memory of his Parents Sigmond and Betty Hellenberg On permanent loan to the Israel Museum