Jean Paul Laurens (France, 1838-1921) Large oil on canvas painting. Faintly inscribed lower right. Signed and indistinctly dated lower right. Oil on canvas, painting has been re-lined. Laurens was a major Salon painter of French historical scenes and one of the Parisian art teachers who attracted two American students to his private studio, according to Weinberg (1991, p. 156): Frederic Porter Vinton, and Charles Yardley Turner (1850-1919). At least sixty more, however, would have benefitted from his instruction at the Acad?mie Julian, where he could be found beginning in 1884. In fact, Laurens was the most sought after French teacher among Americans. Alphaeus Cole (1976, p. 114) stated that Laurens stressed the study of anatomy: "He considered it a most important asset to an artist's knowledge, especially when drawing figures in action from imagination." Laurens was commissioned to paint numerous public works by the French Third Republic, including the steel vault of the Paris City Hall, the monumental series on the life of Saint Genevieve in the apse of the Panth?on, the decorated ceiling of the Od?on Theater, and the hall of distinguished citizens at the Toulouse capitol. He also provided illustrations for Augustin Thierry's R?cits des temps m?rovingiens ("Accounts of Merovingian Times"). Laurens was highly respected teacher at the Acad?mie Julian, Paris, and a professor at the ?cole nationale sup?rieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he taught Andr? Dunoyer de Segonzac and George Barbier. Sight Size: 37.5 x 26 in. Overall Framed Size: 44 x 32 in.