Henner, Jean-Jacques

▪ French painter

born March 5, 1829, Bernwiller, France

died July 23, 1905, Paris

      French painter, best known for his sensuous pictures of nymphs and naiads in vague landscape settings and of idealized, almost symbolist, heads of young women and girls. He also painted a number of portraits in a straightforward naturalistic manner.

      Henner studied at Strasbourg and at the École des Beaux-Arts (“School of Fine Arts”) in Paris under Michel Drolling. In 1858 he won the Prix de Rome and spent the years 1859–65 in Italy, where the chiaroscuro, colour, and sentiment of the paintings of Correggio and Giorgione made a lasting impression on him. Henner, one of the most successful artists of his day, exhibited regularly at the Paris Salons, but at the time of his death his reputation had begun to decline.

* * *