Julius LeBlanc Stewart (1855-1919) was born in Philadelphia. His father was William Hood Stewart. The family’s wealth came from the La Carolina sugar plantation in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The family moved to Paris in 1865. There, Stewart’s father began collecting the works of the Barbizon painters. Julius studied art with Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was a favorite pupil and traveled with Gerome to Egypt in 1874. Unlike Sargent or Whistler, Julius Stewart was a painter of the lifestyles of the prominent members of society during the Gilded Age. His wealth and social status gave him access to these people and the social events of the time. His nickname was “the Parisian from Philadelphia.”
Twilight on the Terrace, Paris (1877) (29’’x39”), like many of Stewart’s works, is in a private collection. His oil paintings were popular, and it is easy to see why. In this painting he demonstrated expertise in the depiction of the three beautiful ladies dressed in exquisite satins, ruffles, and lace. In keeping with the style of the era, they sit on a long, hand carved Chinese sofa, popular from the mid-to-late 19th Century. Their feet rest upon an oriental carpet that picks up the red, blue, and yellow color scheme of the painting. Parallel to the sofa, the carpet leads the viewer’s eye to the stone railing of the terrace, where a fourth woman looks out on the panoramic view of Paris rooftops. On the journey across the terrace, the viewer encounters a bright red parrot, a red pillow, a blue dress with touches of red, a red Japanese parasol, and a pot of mostly red flowers. All draw the eye across the canvas. Other compositional devices can be noted. The red swirl on the blue dress is repeated in the red of the parasol. The woman holds an open fan that is another semi-circle. The round, brass bird perch plays off of the straight lines and square-shaped rugs. Leafy green foliage in the foreground and background complement each other. Stewart’s mastery of composition is demonstrated in this scene of upper-class leisure.
Stewart often painted scenes of family events. After the Wedding (1880) (33”x64’’) is the first of this type. In this grand panorama, Mae Drexel and Charles T. Stewart drive away in an elegant horsedrawn carriage, leaving on their honeymoon. The Drexel family and Steward family wave at the happy couple. Mae was the daughter of the financier Anthony J. Drexel (1826-1893), founder of the Drexel and Co. Bank in Philadelphia. The bank was renamed Drexel & Morgan in 1871, and on the death of Drexel, the bank was renamed JP Morgan & Company. Drexel’s wealth is reflected by the elegant attire of the attendees and the luxurious setting, likely the Drexel mansion. In 1895, Drexel bought land in west Philadelphia, where he developed the Drexel Colony. The family home was a 41-room mansion, built in the Italian style.
Stewart exhibited at the annual Paris Salons from 1878 until 1908. A Hunt Ball (1885) (49”x79”) earned honorable mention in the 1885 Salon. The ball took place at the Essex Club in Newark, New Jersey. It opened as a gentlemen’s club in1876. The beautiful people of the Gilded Age are gathered in an elegant room in which they are surrounded by mirrors and crystal chandeliers. At the center of the composition, the dancer in the pale pink gown and with her back to the viewer is Lillie Langtry, one of the most popular women of the time. Among the many celebrities in attendance is Baron Rothschild, seated at the lower right corner of the piece.
The painting was exhibited again in the 1886 Paris Salon, and it was awarded a third-class medal. The work is “upper-class genre” as opposed to traditional genre paintings that depict ordinary people doing everyday things. His subject became successful as did he. By 1889 he had been given hors concours status, meaning his works were accepted in the Salon without being juried, a rare distinction for an American artist.
On the Yacht Namouna, Venice (1890) (56”x77”) (Wadsworth Athenaeum) was one of several paintings in which Stewart used the yacht as a setting. The yacht belonged to the wealthy publisher and playboy James Gordon Bennett, Jr. He wears a white linen suit and boater hat. As publisher of the New York Herald, organizer of the first American polo and tennis matches, and sponsor of Stanley’s trip to Africa to find Livingston, he could afford the very best. The interior of the yacht was designed in 1890 by the prestigious architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, designers of Madison Square Garden (1890), and also for Bennett in 1890, the New Port Casino in Rhode Island. Tiffany and Co. outfitted the main salon, dining hall, and state rooms with glass and custom decorations. Lounging in the chair at the right of this piece is the internationally famous Lillie Langtry, known to all as the Jersey Lillie.
Les Dames Goldsmith on the Bois de Boulogne in 1897 Peugeot Cart (1901) (48”x71”) takes the viewer on a ride through the second-largest park, at 2088 acres, in Paris. The Goldsmith ladies are enjoying a privilege afforded to the wealthy. Automobiles were new and expensive, thus a symbol of social status. Women were allowed to have a driving license in 1897, and the women of the upper classes took to driving in large numbers. The driver is concentrating on shifting and steering, while her sister holds onto her hat and scarf. Even the dog seems to be enjoying the breeze. Stewart’s ability to capture the textures of any surface be it human or mechanical is remarkable. The landscape colors in the panoramic background are perfectly balanced by the light colors of the passenger’s dress.
The automobile played an important role in the emancipation of women. Women were driving service vehicles in World War I.
Stewart was a master of portraits, such as Mrs. Francis Stanton Blake (1908) (79”x44”) (Walters). In this portrait the subject is artistically posed and fashionably dressed and coiffed. Her reddish hair blends perfectly with the Japanese folding screen behind her. Japanese art was all the rage at the time. The large ostrich feather fan which she holds became essential year-round. It was Introduced by Queen Elizabeth I. Ostrich farmers in South Africa provided the feathers to women of the Victorian era.
Stewart received international recognition: a gold medal in the Berlin International (1891), the Order of Leopold of Belgium (1894), and the Cross of the French Legion of Honor (1895). He was a juror and on the advisory boards of several international exhibitions in Paris, Chicago, Saint Louis, and Liege (Belgium). He was the featured artist at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition in 1913. He showed his work in Pennsylvania intermittently from 1907 until 1913. Stewart died in Paris at the age of 63; he was buried in Philadelphia. He did not keep diaries or write many notes. His biography The Sweet Life: Julius Leblanc Stewart and Painting the Belle Époque, edited by James W. Tottis, was published in 2024. Stewart’s masterful paintings provide a pictorial history of the life and times of American expatriates during the Gilded Age.