Jean Lecomte Du Noüy - Landscape With A Celtic Cross -

Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ (1842–1923) is considered one of the leading figures of French academic and Orientalist painting in the second half of the 19th century. A student of Charles Gleyre and Jean-Léon Gérôme, he made a name for himself at the Salon with paintings of great precision, devoted to history, antiquity, biblical subjects, and the Orient. His travels in Egypt and Turkey inspired a body of work that combines archaeological scholarship, refined execution, and a taste for spectacular compositions. His famous Ramses in His Harem, presented at the 1887 Salon and later at the 1889 World’s Fair, particularly illustrates this ambition.

Today, his work remains represented in major public collections, notably at the Musée d’Orsay, which houses several of his major paintings, including Ramses in His Harem, The Gallic Coast Guard and the portrait of Adolphe Crémieux. His paintings are also found in the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Grenoble and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Reims, as well as in several other French museums and international institutions, including the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York, which in 2004 dedicated the first major modern monograph to him, accompanied by a catalog raisonné.