François Flameng
1856–1923 · French Belle Époque painter, society portraitist and war painter
François Flameng (1856-1923) was a French painter of the Belle Époque, the son of the printmaker Léopold Flameng, who was also his first teacher. He matters because he combined court portraiture, public decoration and war painting, which gave him a prominent place in French art at the turn of the century.
He trained first with his father and then at the École des Beaux-Arts, where his main teacher was Alexandre Cabanel. From 1870 he made reproductions of works by several famous artists for the catalogue of the Durand-Ruel gallery, and he made his Salon debut in 1875 with The Lectern. His portraits and society scenes brought him to the Russian court: in 1894 Tsar Alexander III invited him to Gatchina Palace to paint members of the Imperial Court and other aristocrats. Between 1895 and 1897 he took part in decorating the Salle Favart, home of the Opéra-Comique, and in 1900 he painted a mural of Paris for Le Train Bleu, a restaurant in the Gare de Lyon.
In 1905 he became a professor at the National School of Fine Arts and was elected to the Academy of Fine Arts, taking the seat left by William Bouguereau. When the First World War began in 1914 he was one of the first Army Painters to join an army mission, going to the Aisne front, where he made sketches that he later turned into paintings in his studio. After the war he donated most of his war paintings to the Musée de l'Armée. He died in 1923, two days after a leg amputation, having suffered from diabetes for many years.
His legacy survives mainly in his portraits of high society and in the visual record of the war that he left to the French military museum.
Works (2)
Painted in 1908 by the French artist François Flameng, this portrait shows Queen Alexandra seated on a stone step. She wears a white silk gown, the sash and star of the Order of the Garter, a Cartier necklace and, as a brooch, the Koh-i-Noor diamond. She sat for the work in early 1908, and her son and daughter-in-law watched its progress. The painting first hung at Windsor Castle before moving to Buckingham Palace.
History painting from 1885 showing Marie Antoinette of Austria on her way to execution, as its title indicates. This oil on canvas uses the conventions of history painting, as François Flameng evokes the queen's final moments during the French Revolution. Its size gives the scene a solemn, monumental presence.
Where to see the work
- Royal Collection · 1
- Museum of the French Revolution Vizille · 1
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Alexandre Cabanel 1823–1889
- Jean-Paul Laurens 1838–1921
- Edmond Hédouin 1820–1889
- Léopold Flameng 1831–1911
Curiosities
A banknote that never circulated
In 1891 he designed sketches for the first French banknote to be produced with the four-colour process. A 1000 franc note based on the design was created in 1897 but never issued. The composition returned in 1938, in different colours, for a 500 franc note.
Friends at home
John Singer Sargent and Paul Helleu were regular guests at the Flameng home. The couple had two daughters, Jean and Marie, and Marie later married the tennis player Max Decugis. Their house was therefore a meeting place for artists and for people linked to sport and to the society of the day.