Jean-François Raffaëlli

Painter, engraver, sculptor, singer, Raffaelli is a complete artist, interested in all forms of artistic expression, to represent the modern life around him.

Born in Paris in 1850 in an Italian family, Raffaëlli lives a happy childhood, until his 14 years. Forced to work, he began by trying to writ music and singing before painting.

Raffaelli participated for the first time in the Salon of 1870, where he was admitted by the jury. He then decided to enter the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Gérôme (1824-1904), but this too academic training did not suit him. To the cold study of nudes in the studio and in groups, Raffaelli prefers the observation of the masters in the Louvre museum, then in Italy, and in Algeria.

Upon his return to France, Raffaelli settled in Asnières and managed to make a living from his art at the age of 26: first exhibiting at the Salon, he finally moved away from it and joined the "Refusés" group to exhibit alongside Mary Cassat, Forain, Degas and Pissarro, and then at Georges Petit's in 1886 alongside Monet and Renoir.

Although he was mainly a Parisian, Raffaëlli liked to leave the capital town and to spend time in Honfleur and Jersey. The beach represented here could be that of Gorey. The artist deploys all his talent as a draughtsman, taking care to individualize each of the figures: the girls in the foreground wearing a hat, the young man on the right getting ready to bath accompanied by his dog, the women standing by an umbrella on the left, or the baby carriage in the center of the composition. The houses bordering the beach are also carefully drawn, and their silhouettes with green shutters stand out in the warm light. All in beige and blue tones, the work with its delicate nuances is skillfully constructed with the help of an accomplished drawing.

At the same time impressionist and naturalist, Raffaëlli seeks to execute a complete work, with a strong drawing and a harmony of colors, "a perfect work that I would have made for me" (A. Alexandre, Jean-François Raffaëlli, peintre, graveur et sculpteur, Paris, 1909, p. 48). Painter, Raffaëlli is also an art theorist and publishes in 1884 Les mouvements de l'Art Moderne et du Beau Caractériste.