Lot 134: Julius Le Blanc Stewart (1855-1919)

Julius Le Blanc Stewart (1855-1919)
In the Garden
signed and dated 'JL Stewart 96' (lower right)
oil on canvas
52½ x 40¼ in. (133.3 x 102.2 cm.)

Dresden, Germany, International Art Exhibition, 1897, no. 1295.

Private collection, France.
Christie's, Paris, 15 November 2006, lot 353.
Private collection, acquired from the above.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Julius Le Blanc Stewart arrived in Paris in 1865 and for the following fifty years was known as the "Parisian from Philadelphia" who assured his career and reputation by depicting the grand life in Belle Époque Paris and members of Parisian high society. By the mid-1880s, the only American to receive more critical attention at the Salon Exhibitions was John Singer Sargent. Painted in 1896, In the Garden is an example of Stewart's beautifully painted works depicting the leisurely life of fin-de-siecle society.

Stewart was influenced by his father, William Hood Stewart, a well-recognized collector and connoisseur on both sides of the Atlantic known for his passion of art. Originally from Philadelphia, the elder Stewart made his fortune in Cuba managing the family's sugar plantation. As early as the 1860s, William began collecting pictures, both American and European, and at the end of the Civil War moved his family to Paris where Mr. Stewart befriended and collected works by many contemporary artists. Among them were Spanish artists such as Eduardo Zamacoïs, Mariano Fortuny, Raimundo de Madrazo, Martin Rico and Jose Villegas. Stewart's collection of paintings was so well-known that visitors to Paris would ask to visit the collection, including American artists such as Julian Alden Weir.

As a result of his father's connections, Stewart became a student of Zamacoïs in his early teens. Upon the artist's death, he entered the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme in May 1873 and became one of the artist's beloved pupils. By the mid-1870s, Stewart moved into his own studio next to that of Madrazo and was known to have been greatly influenced by the Spaniard in his use of a rich, vibrant palette, gestural brushwork and sumptuous scenes of elite young ladies, as seen in After the Ball (private collection) from 1877. In this painting, Stewart established his long preoccupation with the theme of depicting fashionable ingénues.

The following year, Stewart debuted at the 1878 Paris Salon with two works and by 1883 his painting, Portrait of a Lady (private collection), was enthusiastically labeled by The Art Amateur as "the most sensational picture of all" at the Salon. Stewart furthered his reputation the next year with Five O'Clock Tea (Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection, New York), portraying the leisured life of American expatriates in Paris--ladies and gentlemen enjoying afternoon tea in a posh salon interior. Here Stewart showcased his range of painterly abilities in his sumptuous depictions of still lifes, ladies' luxurious costumes, elegant domestic furnishings and the virtuosity of depicting reflective light through the salon windows.

In addition to his depictions of Belle Époque interior scenes such as Five O'Clock Tea, Stewart also excelled in painting images of outdoor leisure pursuits: picnics, lawn parties and yachting excursions, continuing his interest in depicting society figures. The present painting, In the Garden, depicts a well-heeled woman, seated in reverie in a park on a sun-filled day. The woman is elegantly adorned in a beautiful white dress holding a parasol with an elaborate hat placed next to her on the bench. The vibrant red of the parasol is echoed in her hat, as well as the dabs of red flowers in the bed beside her. Stewart surrounds the woman in the lushness of the verdant park with dappled sunlight breaking through the tree tops. One of Stewart's constant themes of modern feminine beauty is exemplified in In the Garden. His motif of contemplative young women is also displayed in other works such as Lady at a Window (1884, Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana), Reading Aloud (Sarah Bernhardt and Christine Nilsson) (circa 1883, private collection) and An Enthralling Novel (1885, private collection) presenting the privileged lives of these ladies.

Stewart was well-placed within Parisian high society in both artistic and social circles. His familial wealth helped place him there, but it was his charm and artistic abilities that kept him ensconced in this world for the entirety of his career. Ulrich Hiesinger adeptly describes Stewart's oeuvre: "The paintings of Parisian high society that earned him fame as a mature artist also distinguished him from every other American, not only for their subject matter but also for the artist's intimate involvement with the life he portrayed." (Julius LeBlanc Stewart: American Painter of the Belle Époque, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1998, p. 9) In the Garden is a testament to this fact, exemplifying Stewart's mastery as a Belle Époque artist, moving easily within this rarified, luxurious world where folly and leisure were the pursuits of the day.