Master Drawings New York

There are very few sources with information about the life and work of Joseph-Auguste Brunier. A few biographical details do exist, however, concerning his education, which began in 1877 when he arrived in Lyon and entered the École des Beaux-Arts. He studied painting with Michel Dumas (1812-1885), who had just been appointed director of the school. Brunier achieved success at the Lyon Beaux Arts, winning the gold medal in Michel Dumas’s class in 1883. The following year he came second in the Prix de Paris, but won it a year later. This prize, created in 1876, was the equivalent at the École des Beaux-Arts de Lyon of the Prix de Rome at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Brunier moved to Paris and worked in the ateliers of Alexandre Cabanel, Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger. He exhibited at the Salon de Lyon with entries in 1887 and 1888, and also in the Paris Salon, where he had painted or drawn portraits and self-portraits accepted every year between 1885 and 1890. Like Dumas, his Lyon teacher, Brunier produced a number of notable works on religious themes, including the altarpiece for the chapel at the Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse – donated in 1912 to the Hospices Civils de Lyon – and The Virgin Mary Handing the Rosary to Saint Dominic in the Church of Saint-Bernard. However, he produced more portraits than anything else, in particular portraits of member of his family.

In 1891, Brunier married Augustine-Claudine-Jeanne Allemand and from that union, a little girl, Françoise, was born. From then on, wife and daughter became the artist’s favourite models, and he drew them regularly. The present work is an example of a scene from the painter’s family life. A talented and prolific sketch artist, Brunier turned his hand to a wide range of techniques and mediums, from black and red chalk to pastel and charcoal. He also produced a number of silverpoint drawings on prepared paper, including a very fine portrait of his wife, the quality of which bears similarities to the work of Alphonse Legros.

The present work is a wonderful example of Brunier’s mastery of metalpoint on prepared paper. It remained in the artist’s family collection until their sale in 1980, where it was purchased by the great Lyon art collector and art historian, Étienne Grafe.