SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Jules-Gustave Besson, a French painter and teacher born in 1868, developed a naturalist body of work attentive to the condition of the working class in France and England alike. From 1887 to 1895, he studied at the École des beaux-arts de Paris, where he attended courses taught by Alexandre Cabanel, Élie Delaunay and Gustave Moreau.
Among the works produced as part of the school’s competitions are Manué offre un sacrifice à l’Éternel (1890) and Jésus apaisant la tempête (1891), two oil paintings on canvas, as well as Figure peinte (1893), executed for the painted-figure competition. In 1898, his lithograph Au Pays noir appeared in L’Estampe moderne and focused on the industrial region of the Black Country. The triptych Les Moissonneurs de lauriers, held at the musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, earned him a second-class medal at the 1902 Salon des artistes français. Mineurs, an oil painting on canvas dated around 1900, is held at the musée de l’Ermitage. The musée Baron-Martin de Gray also holds the pastel Bretonne et son fils, ou l’écuelle vide.
Besson exhibited at the Salon des artistes français from 1896 to 1925 and won the prix de l’Indochine in 1925. In his teaching, he encouraged his students to practise photography. In 1940, Stéphane Brecq replaced him as head of the school.
This profile brings together identity references for Jules Besson and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
1 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Oil on canvas
Biblische Szene mit weiblichem Akt.
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2017-05-12
Published result : 1900 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 1800
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
