Jean-Louis Hamon came from a modest background but received a municipal stipend to study painting in Paris. He arrived in 1840 and, following the advice of Ingres (q.v.), entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1842 and Delaroche's atelier, which closed that year, with many of its students sent to Charles Gleyre (1806-1874). There he met Gérôme and Boulanger, with whom he became associated, in the critics' view, when he made his debut at the 1847 Salon. Hamon also worked as a designer at the royal porcelain manufacture at Sèvres from 1848 to 1853, thus providing himself with a more reliable income than he could expect from his paintings. Purchased by the Empress Eugénie for the imperial collection, his painting Ma soeur n'y est pas (1853) won him some fame and, after it was re-exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, the Legion of Honor as well. His popularity soon waned, however, and by 1862 his finan-cial straits induced him to leave for the island of Capri, where he remained until 1871, though he regularly sent work back to France. His subjects concentrated on classicizing genre scenes, mostly of young women, and he painted, like the mature Gleyre, in thin, delicate layers of subdued colors.
Select Bibliography
Claretie 1881. Claretie, Jules. J.-L. Hamon. Paris. 1881.
Hoffmann 1903. Hoffmann, E. J.-L. Hamon, peintre. Paris. 1903.
Tanouarn 1860. Tanouarn, Alfred de. "Les néo-grecs, Hamon." L'Artiste 9 (1860): 7-11.
