Amélie BEAURY-SAUREL (1848 - 1924) Portrait of Maurice Barrès Pastel. 31.3 x 23.4 cm Two preparatory drawings are included, one in black pencil, the other in red chalk and black pencil on tracing paper. Born in Spain to French parents, Amélie Beaury-Saurel is said to have copied the masters at the Louvre from the age of ten, under her mother's care. She exhibited at the Salon for the first time in 1873 with Portrait de M. P. R (n°73), and began attending the women's studio at the Académie Julian around 1875, at the age of twenty-five. She was first taught by Pauline Coeffier (1814-1900), a portrait painter practicing oil and pastel painting, then received advice from Tony Robert-Fleury (1837-1911), William Bouguereau (1825-1905), Jules Lefebvre (1836-1911), Benjamin-Constant (1845-1902), Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921), Pierre Auguste Cot (1837-1883) and Marie Bashkirtseff (1858-1884) and Louise Breslau (1856-1927). Amélie Beaury-Saurel won a third medal at the 1885 Salon de la Société des Artistes français and a bronze medal at the 1889 Universal Exhibition. She quickly became a renowned portraitist, and was soon recommended for her talent by Léon Bonnat (1833-1922). In 1891, she was awarded the Prix d'Honneur at the Blanc et Noir exhibition for her painting Le travail de M. Frey, Maître d'armes. Married to Rodolphe Julian (1839-1907) in 1895, Amélie Beaury-Saurel ran the women's workshops at the Académie Julian, opened in 1873. After her husband's death in 1907, Amélie Beaury-Saurel became director of the Académie, a position she held while pursuing her artistic career, achieving remarkable success as a portrait painter until her death in 1924. This pastel portrait depicts the man of letters and politician Maurice Barrès (1862-1923). The preparatory study sheet in black pencil echoes the framing of the model's carte-de-visite photograph, a copy of which is preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, dated 1880-1910. The composition of the pastel enlarges the original framing: Barrès is still depicted - as in the photograph - with his face in profile and his back in three-quarter view, but the artist extends the body position and brings in color. Amélie Beaury-Saurel's choice of bright colors contrasts with the portraits of Barrès by Jacques-Émile Blanche and Henri Rondel.