Théobald Chartran

Théobald Chartran (Besançon, 1849 – Paris, 1907) was a French academic painter best known for his portraits. Trained in the official tradition of the Second Empire and the Third Republic, he built a reputation both in France and in the United States.

Born into a family of magistrates, he was expected to study law or join the army, but he turned early towards art. He moved to Paris to study under Alexandre Cabanel and later attended the École des Beaux-Arts. His portrait of Archbishop Georges Darboy, painted in 1871 while the prelate lay on his catafalque, was widely admired and earned him the Grand Prix de Rome in 1877.

He also contributed caricatures to Vanity Fair, signing them "T", and portrayed many public figures from France and Italy. Notable works include his portrait of René Laënnec, the inventor of the stethoscope, and Emma Calvé as Carmen (1894), noted for its rich background gradient.

His best-known commission came from the Roosevelt family. He painted Alice Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt and, in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt. The president disliked the result so much that he reportedly had it destroyed, and John Singer Sargent was hired for a more masculine portrait. In 1900 Chartran bought the Île de Salagnon on Lake Geneva, where he had a villa built.

His legacy lies mainly in his official portraits, which document the academic taste of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the political, scientific and artistic figures of his day.