Born 25 March 1823, in Lyons; died 26 September 1887, in Orsay.
Painter, fresco artist, engraver. Religious subjects, historical subjects, mythological subjects, figures, genre scenes, interiors with figures, landscapes with figures, landscapes. Church decoration.
Jean Baptiste Bertrand, called James, was a pupil of Bonnefond at the École des Beaux-Arts, Lyons, between 1839 and 1841, and then of A. Périn at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1842 and 1843. Between 1857 and 1862 he lived in Italy, where he became friends with Carpeaux, Falguière and Clésinger. He exhibited at the salon from 1857, and won a third-class medal in 1861 and 1863, and a medal in 1869.
After his stay in Italy his style changed, no doubt as a result of his friendships with the sculptors. His forms are modelled more firmly, even if his drawing is less vigorous, and his use of colour is bolder and more flexible. Phrynius at the Eleusinian Mysteries, which he sent to the salon in 1866, is representative of this style. From 1867 he painted a series of graceful pictures depicting great heroines of history and the novel, usually at their moment of death: Death of Sappho 1867; Death of Virginia 1869; Marguerite and Death of Manon Lescaut 1870; Death of Ophelia 1872; Romeo and Juliet 1874; Madeleine 1875; Charlotte Corday’s Last Day 1883. Several of his works became more popular by being engraved. For nearly 12 years he collaborated with his teachers Orsel and Périn in painting the frescoes of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris. He also painted The Childhood of the Virgin in St-Louis d’Antin.
Museum and Gallery Holdings
Antwerp: Know Thyself
Bordeaux: Feeling the Cold
Caen: Cinderella
Châteauroux: Death of the Virgin
Lyons: Conversion of St Thais; Christians Pulling the Bodies of Martyrs from the Tiber; The Brothers of Death Taking Away the Body of an Assassinated Man in the Roman Campagna
Montpellier: Too Small
Orléans: The Chaussards in the Roman Campagna
Paris (former Mus. du Luxembourg): Death of Virginia
St-Étienne: Acis and Galatea
Auction Records
Paris, 28 Oct 1943: Near Chatou, FRF 2,100
Paris, 10 May 1944: Collecting Flowers, FRF 1,850; Mignon, FRF 3,000
London, 24 June 1981: Jewel Box (1869, oil on canvas, 36¾ × 18 ins/93.5 × 46 cm) GBP 500
New York, 9 Feb 1999: Day of the Regatta (1901, oil on canvas, 25 × 39 ins/63 × 99 cm) USD 8,500
New York, 2 Nov 1999: Aurora (oil on canvas, 89 × 40 ins/226 × 102 cm) USD 150,000
Pittsfield, 12 May 2001: Death of Virginia (1869, oil on canvas, 22 × 46 ins/56 × 117 cm) USD 13,000
Paris, 5 April 2002: The Wait (oil on canvas, 23 × 17 ins/59 × 42 cm) EUR 3,050
Paris, 27 Nov 2003: The Cat’s Milk (oil on canvas, 33 × 17 ins/83 × 43 cm) EUR 2,200
