Femme dans basse cour - Jean Francois RAFAELLI (1850- 1924) monogrammed

Oil on paper mounted on cardboard

RAFAELLI Jean-François Raffaëlli

Born April 20, 1850 in Paris. Died February 11, 1924

A French painter, sculptor and engraver. Associated with the impressionist movement

Naturalist painter, he evokes in his paintings and drawings scenes of the Parisian suburbs, interiors and portraits often dramatic.
We also owe him engravings of Parisian sites: Notre-Dame, the Invalides and illustrations of the writings of Joris-Karl Huysmans.

Coming from a family of Italian and Lyon origin, Jean-François Raffaëlli had to work at a young age.
At the age of 18, he is a chorister and actor under the name of Raffa, in lyric theaters and church choir. In the mornings, he attended classes at the Paris School of Fine Arts, including that of Jean-Léon Gérôme.

He began at the Salon of 1870 but he continued his singing career in parallel, which allowed him to tour the Mediterranean in Italy, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, which will inspire him for many paintings.

He received an honourable mention at the Salon des artistes français in 1885 and was named Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1889.
He was awarded a gold medal at the 1889 World's Fair and was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1906. He was also a member of the National Society of Fine Arts.

He learns English, travels throughout Europe and the United States where he resides for five months in 18956.
He exhibited his Parisiennes on the Boulevard des Italiens in Pittsburgh in 1899 where he went to be a member of the jury of the International Carnegie Exhibition.

On these occasions, he gave regular lectures while Paul Durand-Ruel organized an exhibition of his engravings in New York.

In 1904, he founded the Société de la gravure originale en couleurs, which he chaired while organizing an annual exhibition at the gallery owner Georges Petit for twenty years.