Tony Robert-Fleury

Who he was

Tony Robert-Fleury (born 1 September 1837 in Paris; died 8 December 1911 in Paris) was a French academic painter of history subjects, portraits and genre scenes, and one of the three masters who taught at the women's atelier of the Académie Julian in Marie's years. He was the son of the painter Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury (1797-1890), member of the Institut, professor (1855) and director (1863) of the École des Beaux-Arts, and briefly director of the Académie de France in Rome (1866-67). Tony studied with his father, with Léon Cogniet and with Paul Delaroche. He made his Salon debut in 1866 with Varsovie (a scene of the Polish insurrection; Marie calls it "Le Massacre des Polonais") and won medals in 1866, 1867 and 1868 and a gold medal in 1870. Le Dernier Jour de Corinthe (1870) was bought by the State and hung in the Luxembourg Museum; Pinel délivrant les aliénés à la Salpêtrière en 1795 (1876) is his best-known canvas. He was made chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1873, officer in 1884 and commander in 1907; he became professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1905, succeeded Bouguereau as president of the Société des artistes français, and in 1891 married Antoinette Pottecher (fr.wikipedia.org, "Tony Robert-Fleury" and "Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury").

Marie writes "Tony" or "Robert-Fleury" ("M. Robert-Fleury" in 1877-78). Her nicknames for him in 1882-84 are "l'orléaniste", "l'académicien" and "1830". "Robert-Fleury père" in the diary is his father (087.0869; 096.0065).

Marie and Tony

The first teacher (1877-1879)

He first appears in the diary on 13 October 1877, as the painter of Le Dernier Jour de Corinthe, who comes to the atelier on Saturdays to correct the students' work (075.0236). Within a fortnight he tells her that she is making "surprising progress" and has real dispositions (075.0436). Marie notes that he is not paid for the corrections and does them "out of friendship", so that Julian is delighted when he praises her (079.0048). His judgements often differ from Julian's (076.0143). He is one of the three judges of the atelier competitions, with Lefebvre and Boulanger (076.0245; 084.0017); on 17 January 1879 he comes to tell her she has won the prize (084.0046-0051). In March 1878 he tells her, before the whole atelier, that she is "marvellously gifted" (079.0047); in September 1878 she notes how sparing he is of praise, so that even "not bad" counts for much (082.0493), and on 5 October she learns that he has told Julian she may win a medal (082.0546). On 12 October he agrees that she may try sculpture and says he will ask Paul Dubois to advise her (082.0599); on 26 October he promises to come to her home to advise her on it himself (083.0042).

Marie's portrait of him (26 October 1878)

She describes him in a long passage: son of the famous Robert-Fleury, "member of the Institut", a quiet, sensible painter who "draws admirably, composes well, colours badly, paints not badly, receives medals, chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, sells his pictures to the State"; "little brilliance but solid knowledge", he is "forty-two, looking only thirty-five" (he was forty-one), "pale, dark, bearded, blue-eyed, with large, firm, even thick features", "a little consumptive, which disgusts me", of excellent character, with gentle and slightly mocking manners, very severe about the work but softening it with "unctuous jokes and paternal smiles" (083.0047-0048). Marie says she blushes when she talks to him about her sculpture (083.0049) and that "they all adore him a little" (083.0046).

The long middle years (1879-1882)

Marie's mood about him swings with her own confidence. In November 1879 she invites him to see her home studio and describes herself as "absolutely under his wing" (086.0551-0553); on 3 December he dines with Julian and the Bashkirtseffs (086.0621). In March 1880 he corrects her portrait with his own hand (087.0672-0675) and says she has "a great deal of talent" if she wants it (087.0702). The old Robert-Fleury meets her at Tony's on 17 April 1880 (087.0869). During December 1880 she worries about Julian's and Tony's "ménagements" (090.0323-0325); on 30 December Tony urges her to paint the large studio composition (090.0497-0502). In January 1881 Cot takes some of his classes, and Marie, unhappy, asks Tony to come in his place (090.0593-0596; 090.0643-0644). In June 1881, while she is in Russia, she hears that he is gravely ill, "perhaps dead by now" (092.0091); she telegraphs Julian and on 6 June learns that "Tony is saved" (092.0100). In December 1881 he is organising a society of independent artists, a plan that, by April 1882, has failed (094.0119; 094.0422).

Tony paints Marie (August - December 1882)

From 2 August 1882 Marie sits for a portrait of herself by Tony at his studio, almost daily until 17 August and again in September and October; it brings them into closer contact than ever, and he often dines with the family (096.0003; 096.0038-0049; 096.0089-0093). In her entries she notices his kindness, "an excellent being, so good, so gentle", and half-seriously imagines a marriage of him to Dina (096.0052-0054), while mocking his white cotton socks and felt slippers (096.0354; 097.0192). The portrait is "finished" on 4 October (096.0332) but he continues to rework the background and hair into December (097.0192; 097.0206). Marie dislikes the result: "It is not me" (097.0102), a "young lady in an armchair, a fan in her hand" instead of the draped, Greek figure she had imagined (097.0285). On 24 December she sends him 4,000 francs and an enormous basket of flowers from Vaillant (097.0283). On 8 January 1883 she calls the delivered portrait "a real horror" (097.0412). Its whereabouts are not known to this project.

The 1883 quarrel and reconciliation

In February and March 1883 Tony visits her studio and praises the street-boys picture (098.0326; 098.0444-0445). On 30 March he writes that her pictures "have been very well received" and that "this year it is a real success for you", a letter she shows to everyone (098.0632-0637; 099.0002). On 24 May 1883 the jury grants her an honourable mention, for her pastel, and Tony, as a member of the jury, cannot prevent the rehanging of her painting. His letter explains he feared to offend "three or four jurors" interested in the painting she replaced (099.0575); Marie answers coldly that she regards it as "a slap in the face" (099.0578). She now calls him "cet eunuque de l'art" and writes that she no longer has to spare "this wretched Robert-Fleury" (099.0569; 099.0598-0599). On 2 June she already asks why she was so indignant against Tony, "who is worth ten of Julian" (100.0055), and by 17 June he has answered a note from her kindly and called on her (100.0174-0175). On 6 October 1883 he comes to see the street-boys picture, later called Un meeting, and finds it "good, very good", with some of the figures better than she will ever do, but with a background to lighten; she writes him a letter that evening, asking him not to spare her (101.0496-0508).

1884: the last Salon, the medal, the final autumn

Tony comes on 11 March 1884 and tells her Un meeting has gained greatly (103.0499-0500). When the Salon jury judges in the spring, Marie learns from him on 2 April 1884 that her picture was given number 3 by the jury when it should have had number 2, "through sheer bad luck" (103.0676-0680). On 20 and 23 May he consoles her, says nobody on the jury has accused her of not painting it herself, and that she "has chances" (104.0266-0273; 104.0306). After the medals are decided he tells her on 31 May that he "would a hundred times rather have painted your picture than Maurin's" (104.0470) and on 6 June that she should not paint like the medallists (104.0536). On 5 July he comes to see her new picture Avril (105.0027). On 24 July she writes of his "rosette d'officier" (officer of the Légion d'honneur, 1884) (105.0292). On 16 October he visits her with Bastien-Lepage (106.0178) and on 19 October dines with Julian at her house (106.0189), his last appearance in the diary.

Significance

Tony is Marie's longest-serving and most patient teacher: she writes that he "has reassured me for three years" (096.0315) and that he thought her, with Breslau, "my only interesting pupil" (099.0581). His academic, tonal and drawing-based method is what she most admires and resents in turn; he is the representative of the "old school" against which she measures the open-air naturalism of #Bastien_Lepage.

Related entries

Sources