Julius LeBlanc Stewart

Julius LeBlanc Stewart was an American artist who spent almost his entire career in Paris. A contemporary of colleague expatriate painter John Singer Sargent, Stewart was nicknamed "the Parisian from Philadelphia." Julius studied under Eduardo Zamacois as a teenager, under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts, and later was a pupil of Raymondo de Madrazo. He exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon from 1878 into the early 20th century, and helped organize the "Americans in Paris" section of the 1894 Salon. Julius LeBlanc Stewart painted the life he thoroughly enjoyed -Parisian high society. Stewart's works are spirited and realistic, full of fashionable women, sumptuous fabrics and elegant drawing rooms.

Late in life, he turned to religious subjects, but Stewart is best remembered for his Belle Époque society portraits and sensuous nudes. He created a style of his own which has been received in Paris, London, and America as thoroughly original.