Gustave Brion

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Gustave Brion
Javert, from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, published in 1862.
A Wedding in Alsace, 1872
Procession in Strasbourg, 1873
The pilgrims of Sainte Odile (Unterlinden Museum), Colmar

Gustave Brion (1824–1877) was a French painter and illustrator best known for his depictions of rural life in Alsace and for his illustrations of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.[1]

He was born at Rothau in the department of Bas-Rhin on 24 October 1824 and studied in Strasbourg under the painter Gabriel-Cristophe Guérin and then the sculptor Andreas Friedrich. In 1847, his exhibited Intérieur à Dambach at the Salon of 1847.[2] A few years later, he moved to a studio on rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, in the same building as Realist artists Jules Breton and François Bonvin.[3]

Brion gained recognition for his genre paintings depicting the peasant life and customs of Alsace, though he occasionally painted historical subjects, such as The Siege of a Town by Romans under Julius Caesar, commissioned by Napoleon III. He earned a Second-Class Medal at the Paris Salon of 1853 for his paintings Schlitteurs de la Forêt-Noire and Potato Harvest during an Inundation. The former was later destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War.[1] In 1863, his work Les Fleurs du Pays earned him a First-Class Medal at the Salon of 1863, along with the Legion of Honour. Additional honors followed at the Exposition Universelle of 1867 and the Salon of 1868.[4]

In addition to painting, Brion worked as a book illustrator. He designed over 200 illustrations for the first edition of Hugo's novel Les Misérables,[5] including the first published portrayal of Inspector Javert.[6] His illustrations for the author's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame depicted Quasimodo and Esmeralda.[1]

Despite his success in Paris, Brion remained deeply attached to his native Alsace, and the annexation of the region by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 was a personal loss for him. He died on 3 November 1877 at the age of 53.[4]

Brion was a grandnephew of Friederike Brion, the muse of Goethe’s early poetry.[7]

Principal works

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The following are his principal works:

Paintings[1]

  • Interior of a Farm at Dambaoh, Salon, 1847
  • 'Schlitteurs' of the Black Forest, Salon, 1853
  • Potato Harvest during an Inundation, Salon, 1852
  • Wood-Barge on the Rhine (engraved by Jazet), Paris Exhibition, 1855
  • Burial in the Vosges, Paris Exhibition, 1855
  • La Fête-Dieu, Paris Exhibition, 1855
  • The Miraculous Well, Paris Exhibition, 1855
  • Mountebank in the Middle Ages, Salon, 1857
  • Gathering Potatoes (in the Nantes Museum), Salon, 1857
  • A Church Porch, Salon, 1859
  • Burial on the Rhine, Salon, 1859
  • The Skittle-Players, Salon, 1859
  • A Protestant Marriage in Alsace (etched by Rajon), Salon, 1861
  • The Wedding Feast (etched by Bellin), Salon, 1861
  • The Blessing, London Exhibition, 1862
  • The Pilgrims of St. Odile, Salon, 1863
  • The End of the Deluge, Salon, 1864
  • La Quète au Loup, Salon, 1864
  • Reading the Bible in Alsace, Salon, 1868
  • A Wedding in Alsace, Salon, 1874 (earlier drawing of the same image pictured)
  • First Steps, Salon 1876
  • The Réveil, Encampment of Pilgrims, Salon, 1877

Book illustrations

  • Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo (Paris: Pagnerre, 1862), first illustrated edition, with character portraits by Brion[8]
  • Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), by Victor Hugo (Paris: J. Hetzel, 1864), illustrated by Brion; engravings by Yon and Perrichon[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Bryan, Michael; Williamson, George Charles (1903). Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers. University of California Libraries. New York : Macmillan.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  2. ^ Explication des Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture, Gravure et Lithographie des Artistes Vivans, Exposés au Musée Royal le 16 Mars 1847 (Paris: Vinchon, 1847), No. 252, p. X. Wikimedia Commons
  3. ^ "Gustave Brion, JESUS AND PETER ON THE WATER (JESUS ET PIERRE SUR LES EAUX ), 1863". Gallery 19C. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Form and Art. Biography of Gustave Brion". formandart.com. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  5. ^ King, Ross (2006). The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism. NY: Walker Publishing. p. 232. ISBN 9780802718419.
  6. ^ "Illustrations – Stéphanie Boulard". boulard.modlangs.gatech.edu. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  7. ^ "BRION GUSTAVE (1824-1877)". universalis.fr. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Victor Hugo - Graphic Arts". www.princeton.edu. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  9. ^ Hugo, Victor (1802-1885) Auteur du texte (1865). Notre-Dame de Paris / par Victor Hugo; illustré par Brion; gravures de Yon et Perrichon.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Attribution:

  • Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bryan, Michael (1886). "Brion, Gustave". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). Vol. I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.
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