An Afternoon Idyll

Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant prints show a French painter who made his name with rich, glowing scenes of Morocco and later became one of the favourite portraitists of French and British high society. Benjamin-Constant painted Queen Victoria and Pope Leo XIII, decorated Paris's Hôtel de Ville and Opéra-Comique, and taught a generation of students. Our collection of fine art prints includes his Orientalist paintings, biblical heroines, portraits and views of Tangier.

About Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant

Benjamin-Constant was born Jean-Joseph Constant in Paris on 10 June 1845. After his mother died in 1855 he was raised by aunts in Toulouse, where he studied at the city's École des Beaux-Arts. A scholarship took him to Paris in 1866, where he entered the studio of Alexandre Cabanel. His first Salon picture, Hamlet and the King, was bought by the state and is now in the Musée d'Orsay.

A stay in Tangier in 1870 with the painters Georges Clairin and Henri Regnault, and a longer one of about eighteen months in the early 1870s, shaped his early work. He met the sultan's court, collected objects he later used in his paintings, and through the 1880s showed Moroccan subjects at the Paris Salon with great success.

From the 1880s he turned to portraits and large decorations, including ceilings for the Hôtel de Ville and the Opéra-Comique and murals for the Sorbonne. He visited the United States and Montreal, taught at the Académie Julian, where his pupils included Henry Ossawa Tanner, and helped found the Society of French Orientalist Painters with Jean-Léon Gérôme. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1893, painted Queen Victoria in 1899, and died in Paris on 26 May 1902.

Style and Subjects

Benjamin-Constant's Orientalist paintings are about colour and atmosphere: deep reds, golds and shadowy interiors, patterned fabrics, carved screens and figures lit by a warm, theatrical light. Odalisques, guards, sultans and tigers appear in settings built from the objects he brought back from Morocco.

His portraits are quieter and more polished, with dark backgrounds and careful faces in the society style of the day. He also painted grand historical and biblical subjects such as Judith and Theodora.

Famous Works

• Hamlet and the King (1869), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. His first Salon painting, bought by the French state.
• Judith (1886), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The biblical heroine painted with dramatic shadow and rich costume.
• The Sultan's Tiger (1883), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A tiger at rest in a dim, richly decorated palace interior.
• Evening on the Terraces (Morocco) (1879), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Figures on the rooftops of a Moroccan town as night falls.
• Empress Theodora (1887), National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires. The Byzantine empress enthroned in gold and jewels.
• Doge of Venice (1889), Haggin Museum, Stockton. A Venetian ruler in ceremonial robes.
• Queen Victoria (1899), Royal Collection. His state portrait of the elderly queen.

Decorating with Benjamin-Constant Prints

The Orientalist paintings bring warmth and drama to a room with deep colours, patterned rugs, brass and dark wood. A print such as The Bab el Fahs Gate, Tangier or Tangiers suits a living room, hallway or study with a travel theme.

His portraits and quieter scenes such as Young Woman in a Garden fit a dining room or bedroom, and look best with gold or dark frames that echo their nineteenth-century character.

FAQ

What art movement was Benjamin-Constant part of?

Benjamin-Constant was an academic painter best known for Orientalism, the European painting of North African and Middle Eastern subjects. He helped found the Society of French Orientalist Painters.

Who taught Benjamin-Constant?

He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse and then in Paris in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel.

Who did Benjamin-Constant teach?

He taught at the Académie Julian in Paris. His students included the American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner.

Where can I see Benjamin-Constant's paintings?

Works are in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. His painting Justinian in Council is at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida.

Did Benjamin-Constant paint Queen Victoria?

Yes. He painted her portrait in 1899, and also painted Pope Leo XIII and Queen Alexandra.

Related Artists

• Alexandre Cabanel: his teacher in Paris
• Jean-Léon Gérôme: fellow Orientalist and co-founder of the Society of French Orientalist Painters
• Henry Ossawa Tanner: his student at the Académie Julian
• Étienne Dinet: fellow founder of the Society of French Orientalist Painters
• Eugène Delacroix: Orientalist painter whose example shaped his early work