(b Tournan, Seine-et-Marne, 14 March 1836; d Paris, 24 Feb 1911). French painter. He studied in Leon Cogniet's studio from 1852 and competed at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1853 until he won the Prix de Rome in 1861. In Rome he was influenced by Mannerism and especially by Andrea del Sarto, whose works he copied. In his Boy Painting a Tragic Mask (1863; Auxerre, Mus. A. & Hist.) Lefebvre introduced the precise draughtsmanship, delicate colour and a lubricity characteristic of many of his later works. In 1866 he experienced a severe depression caused by the death of his parents and one of his sisters, and by criticism of the last major work he painted in Rome, Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi (untraced). After these experiences he turned from history painting to portraits and nudes; he exhibited 72 portraits in Salons between 1855 and 1898 (e.g. Julia Foster Ward; Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum), but little is known about them since nearly all remain in private collections. Although he occasionally finished large-scale, ambitious paintings (e.g. Lady Godiva, Amiens, Mus. Picardie; Diana Surprised, Buenos Aires, Mus. N. B.A.), he made his reputation with nudes such as Reclining Woman (exh. Salon 1868; untraced). Critics praised this painting and recognized its eroticism, yet there was no scandal as there had been with Manet's Olympia (1863; Paris, Mus. d'Orsay). Lefebvre avoided the signs of contemporary social reality, prostitution or the model's personality that characterized Manet's painting, focusing instead on the woman's beauty and stressing her passivity and availability.
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