At a young age, Jules Ernest Renoux moved to Paris with his mother. His father had left the family and volunteered for the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The talented draftsman studied painting at the Paris Academy of Fine Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme and Alfred Philippe Roll. The young Renoux celebrated his first significant success when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Count de Zogheb, a well-known figure of the Belle Epoque. The Count was delighted with the work and subsequently bought numerous other paintings by Renoux. This earned the painter two medals, the Imperial Order of Medjidieh and the Cross of the Knights of the Portuguese Military Order of Christ. An important patron of Renoux was the industrialist Auguste Magnère, who tried his hand as an amateur artist and had Renoux teach him painting techniques.
Renoux loved to paint the human figure. He often used members of his family as actors, especially his wife Berthe Madeleine, whom he married in 1895, and his son Marcel, who can be seen in many paintings. But a number of self-portraits also characterize his work. Especially in Paris, Renoux often painted street scenes dominated by the colors yellow-orange and ocher. Renoux was considered to be extremely shy. For his street paintings, he therefore often sought out obscure corners from which to draw undisturbed. This retreat led to interesting and unusual perspective and explains the peculiarity of many of his paintings. The London Times wrote of him that he could be called an Impressionist in the broadest sense of the word, since he was concerned with outdoor effects and found particular pleasure in the shimmer of sunlight on shady avenues. His paintings are characterized by accuracy of perspective and his particular skill in placing the sketched figures at different distances from the viewer.
After Renoux had to give up his studio in Paris in 1928, he moved back to his birthplace of Romeny-sur-Marne, a small town outside Paris. There is now a museum dedicated to his life and work: the Maison Renoux. Part of the museum is the painter's studio. It is located in the middle of a garden that became central, especially in his later work. Ten of Renoux's paintings are now owned by the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la ville de Paris. Renoux's parasol, stool, painting box, and transport case for unfinished works were shown in an Impressionist exhibition at the Albertina in 2009 and are also now in the Petit Palais.
At a young age, Jules Ernest Renoux moved to Paris with his mother. His father had left the family and volunteered for the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The talented draftsman studied painting at the Paris Academy of Fine Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme and Alfred Philippe Roll. The young Renoux celebrated his first significant success when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Count de Zogheb, a well-known figure of the Belle Epoque. The Count was delighted with the work and subsequently bought numerous other paintings by Renoux. This earned the painter two medals, the Imperial Order of Medjidieh and the Cross of the Knights of the Portuguese Military Order of Christ. An important patron of Renoux was the industrialist Auguste Magnère, who tried his hand as an amateur artist and had Renoux teach him painting techniques.
Renoux loved to paint the human figure. He often used members of his family as actors, especially his wife Berthe Madeleine, whom he married in 1895, and his son Marcel, who can be seen in many paintings. But a number of self-portraits also characterize his work. Especially in Paris, Renoux often painted street scenes dominated by the colors yellow-orange and ocher. Renoux was considered to be extremely shy. For his street paintings, he therefore often sought out obscure corners from which to draw undisturbed. This retreat led to interesting and unusual perspective and explains the peculiarity of many of his paintings. The London Times wrote of him that he could be called an Impressionist in the broadest sense of the word, since he was concerned with outdoor effects and found particular pleasure in the shimmer of sunlight on shady avenues. His paintings are characterized by accuracy of perspective and his particular skill in placing the sketched figures at different distances from the viewer.
After Renoux had to give up his studio in Paris in 1928, he moved back to his birthplace of Romeny-sur-Marne, a small town outside Paris. There is now a museum dedicated to his life and work: the Maison Renoux. Part of the museum is the painter's studio. It is located in the middle of a garden that became central, especially in his later work. Ten of Renoux's paintings are now owned by the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la ville de Paris. Renoux's parasol, stool, painting box, and transport case for unfinished works were shown in an Impressionist exhibition at the Albertina in 2009 and are also now in the Petit Palais.
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