A Session of the Painting Jury is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist
Henri Gervex, probably undertaken in 1885. The painting shows a meeting of the Paris
Salon, the official exhibition of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts, in a room on the first floor of the
Palais de l'Industrie in 1883. It was itself exhibited at the Salon in 1885. Several artists of the time are identifiable in the painting including
Félix-Joseph Barrias,
Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant,
Léon Bonnat,
William-Adolphe Bouguereau,
Alexandre Cabanel,
Carolus-Duran,
Gustave Achille Guillaumet and
Antoine Vollon, who are involved in judging the works of art shown.
A Session of the Painting Jury was designated a piece of official art during the
Third Republic and has been in the collection of the
Musée d'Orsay in Paris since 1981.
Painting: Henri Gervex