Jean-Baptiste Discart 

Biography of Jean-Baptiste Discart  ( 1855-1940 )

Little is known about the career of the highly talented French painter Jean Discart. He was born in Modena, Italy, in 1855, and enrolled in an art history course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna at the age of seventeen. Classes were taught by the famous German painter Enselm Feuerbach, and other students included Ludwig Deutsch and Karl Merode. When Feuerbach retired, the three young students tried to join Leopold Karl Müller's course, but only Discart was accepted the following year. At the end of his training in Paris, he met up with his two former classmates who had become friends, and together they enjoyed the artistic emulation offered by the French capital. It was perhaps the combined influences of his classical training in Vienna and his exposure to Parisian life that influenced Discart's decision to specialize in Orientalist painting.

Discart first exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1884 and painted Orientalist subjects through to the 1920s, rendering work exquisite in their detail, richness and understanding of light and texture. Much like his contemporary, Rudolf Ernst (1854-1932), Discart's compositions incorporated the heavy use of artifacts such as metal ware, pottery, textiles and instruments, set against elaborate backdrops of sculpted stone, painted tiles or carved woodwork. The temptation to bring back found treasures from their travels was deeply felt by the Orientalists, who desired to fill their studios and homes with artifacts illustrating the craftsmanship of the East as a source of inspiration for paintings executed off-site.

Discart's skill in capturing detail is remarkable; he effectively manipulates the paint and brushstrokes to render various textures, much like his contemporary Deutsch.