Jean Benner (1836-1906) - Flowers

Jean BENNER (1836, Mulhouse - 1906, Paris)
Flowers
Gouache
42 x 37 cm
Signed with the stamp of the workshop below towards the center

With his twin brother Emmanuel, Jean Benner comes from a family of artists specializing in painting flowers. They discovered Paris in 1844 with their parents; on the death of the latter, they must ensure their existence by working for the textile industry in Mulhouse (industrial design workshop in Grosrenaud) and by training in the evening, first at Jean Eck in Mulhouse. Jean Benner returned to Paris and attended the Swiss Academy, then became a student of Pils in Fine Arts, and started at the Salon in 1859. He would also benefit from the advice of his compatriot Jean-Jacques Henner (in the 1870s), from Léon Bonnat and de Hamon. Thanks to the help of generous friends, he was able to discover Italy in 1866: Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples and especially Capri; he meets his wife there, and the island then provides him with the main theme of his paintings (landscapes, portraits, local scenes). In 1883, Benner began to “make” flowers, notably at the Salon de Mulhouse where he exhibited two gouaches (Anemones, Narcissuses and daffodils), while continuing to produce Capriote portraits and subjects. Rewarded by the Legion of Honor in 1894, Benner died of pneumonia, barely returned from a last trip to Capri. At the Salon of 1879, the Illustrated Universe wrote: “We recommend the Benners to you; because it will soon be necessary to say the Benners as they say the Carraches ", while on the occasion of the 1885 edition, we found the following criticism in the newspaper La Petite presse:" If you like flowers, stop in front of Les Pavots by M. Jean Benner; they will seduce you, I am sure, because they are treated with an incredible address and because they are painted with that width of touch which is characteristic of great artists ”.