Description

Bernard Romain Julien (1802-1871)

Bernard Julien : Profile portrait of a bearded man with a headband

Original lithograph

Proof on wove paper after Monvoisin, signed, printed in Paris by Lemercier. Study with two pencils, n° 47. Published in London in June 1843 by E. Gambart and Junin, and in Paris by J. Bulla & F. Delarue.

Dimensions of the sheet : H. 495 mm x W. 317 mm.

Condition : traces of writing in pencil in the lower margin under the letter.

Bernard Julien portrait man : Julien is a French painter, lithographer and illustrator. He learns drawing in Bayonne (France) then goes to Paris and enters in 1822 the school of Fine Arts, under the direction of Antoine-Jean Gros. He often exhibits his lithographic compositions at the Paris Salon. Thus in 1848, he produces a lithographic translation of the Capture of the Smalah of Abd-el-Kader (1845) after Horace Vernet. His interpretations of the works of Henri Lehmann, Achille Devéria, Hippolyte Lecomte, Philippoteaux can also be seen at the Salon. He began by making a name for himself as a history and portrait painter, but his success as a lithographer led him to devote a large part of his career to publishing lithographed collections dedicated to an artist or a theme, which ensured him a great deal of fame.

Caricatures and studies : Active since 1826, Julien worked as an illustrator around 1829-1830 for newspapers such as La Caricature, Le Charivari, periodicals containing prints, directed by the very active Charles Philipon. Our artist also offers his drawings to the magazines Le Voleur, La Galerie de la presse, la Biographie des hommes du jour, la Livre des orateurs, la Revue des armées, or even the Cours de littérature de La Harpe, published by A. Boblet in 1830 and containing nearly 400 portraits. His most remarkable plates come from the lithographic workshops of Lemercier. If he started with series of caricatures, notably after Granville, it was his collections of studies with two or three pencils, true virtuosity of the lithographic rendering, which built his fame (see the print that we propose). Very appreciated in the literary and artistic world, he delivered very noticed portraits of Georges Sand, Bellini, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, etc…