Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, b. 1838 - d. 1917

(b Lille, France, 1838; d Paris, 1917) French Painter. Carolus-Duran studied at the Academy in Lille with the sculptor Augustin-Phidias Cadet de Beaupre who taught him how to sketch. At age 15, he began a two-year apprenticeship in the studio of one of David's former pupils, Francois Souchon. In 1853 he moved to Paris where he took life classes at the Academie Suisse. During this time Carolus-Duran made the acquaintance of Fantin-Latour, Courbet, Manet, and Monet, whose portrait he painted in 1867. After traveling to Spain, Italy, and Brussels, Carolus-Duran opened a studio in Paris in 1872. Many students were not only drawn to his atelier due to Carolus-Durans' success and popularity, but also numerous expatriate artists, who loathed the stringent and conservative training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, opted for the supportive atmosphere of Duran's atelier. The American artist John Singer Sargent, for example, became one of Duran's star pupils and close friends. Sargent created a reverent portrait of his mentor and dedicated it affectionately to him (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, MA). Carolus-Duran was a founding member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and was the president in 1898. He was named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in 1872. In 1905 he became the director of the French Academy in Rome. (Credit: Sotheby’s, New York, La Belle Epoque Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, May 3, 2000, Lot 227)