The son of esteemed French artist Louis-Léopold Boilly, Julien-Léopold Boilly, also known as Jules Boilly, was a painter, watercolourist and lithographer. While his introduction to art came courtesy of his father, he gained a more formal education in painting when he trained under neoclassical painter Antoine-Jean Gros, or Baron Gros, at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Jules Boilly was known for his portraiture (the work ECKART ASIA acquired is considered one of his best works) and his lithographs, particularly of the French academe, which were collected in an album called Iconographie de l’Institut Royal de France. He also painted historical subjects and nudes, and, like his father, mastered genre scenes. Later, in his career, he developed an appreciation of architectural interiors, particularly that of churches and ruins.
In 1827, Boilly was awarded a second-class medal by the Paris Salon, the distinguished exhibition that showcased the work of new artists, and was granted the opportunity to exhibit two canvases – Procession Passing under the Arch of Titus, Rome and View of the Interior of the Church of San Lorenzo, Rome. His later submissions to the Salon included The Last Banquet of the Girondins and Saint Bonaventura Receiving the Cardinal’s Insignia while Washing Dishes at the Monastery.
Jules Boilly’s works are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Morgan Library & Museum in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., The British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in London, and many more.
