Paper

Student Artwork Guide

Coriolan

Name Class Date

Tony Robert-Fleury, Coriolan. Public domain. See this canvas under a moving light: the drawing, the true colour under the varnish, the bare pigment

The facts

Artist
Tony Robert-Fleury wahooart.com/en/artists/tony-robert-fleury/
Artist’s dates
1837 – 1911

In context

Coriolan — Tony Robert-Fleury

When might this have been painted?

  1. 1830
  2. 1840
  3. 1850
  4. 1860
  5. 1870
  6. 1880
  7. 1890
  8. 1900
  9. 1910

Row above: the years. Row below: how old the artist was at the start and at the end of each span — 0 at birth, 74 at death.

Shaded: the lifetime of Tony Robert-Fleury (1837–1911) every dated painting, decade by decade

This record has no exact year on file — using the artist's lifetime and the work's style, what decade would you guess?

Compare with

Pick one work above: name two things it shares with this one, and one thing that's different.

More works to set beside this one: wahooart.com/en/art/similar/tony-robert-fleury-coriolan-CWZCUB-en/

Colours

Measured from the image

    Main colour

    Steel Blue #56839a

    Catalogued palette

    • #56839A
    • #77523B
    • #B9AA94
    • #2E2223

    These colours inside the artist’s whole palette Find other paintings by colour

    Palette
    Earthy The dominant colour family in the image.
    Main colour name
    Steel Blue
    Intensity
    Balanced How saturated and varied the colours are, from a single toned-down hue to many bright ones.
    Contrast
    Statement How much the colours differ in lightness and saturation across the picture.
    Harmony
    Discordant Palette How well the colours work together, from clashing to fully unified.
    Brightness
    Shadow How light or dark the picture reads overall, from deep shadow to bright highlight.
    Saturation
    Subtle Color How pure and strong the colours are, from near-grey to fully vivid.

    Where in the world is this painting looked at?

    • under 1%
    • 1–3%
    • 3–8%
    • 8–20%
    • 20% and over
    This painting alone has too few recorded visitors to map, so the plate reads every work by Tony Robert-Fleury over the last twelve months — 6 countries in all. Where these figures come from

    The ten leading countries

    1. 1 United States of America 42.9%600 visits
    2. 2 China 21.4%300 visits
    3. 3 Canada 14.3%200 visits
    4. 4 Australia 7.1%100 visits
    5. 5 Italy 7.1%100 visits
    6. 6 Mexico 7.1%100 visits

    Find the three darkest countries on the map. Is the museum that keeps this painting in any of them? Write down one reason people far away might look at it.

    The 13 most looked-at works by Tony Robert-Fleury

    1. 1 The Last Day of Corinth 36.0%900 visits
    2. 2 Pinel Freeing The Insane From Their Chains, 1870 16.0%400 visits
    3. 3 Philippe Pinel At Salpetriere 12.0%300 visits
    4. 4 Carmella 4.0%100 visits
    5. 5 Portrait Of A Ship's Captain 4.0%100 visits
    6. 6 Winter Landscape With A Watermill 4.0%100 visits
    7. 7 Alix Appearing In The Mask 4.0%100 visits
    8. 8 Warsaw On 8 April, 1861 4.0%100 visits
    9. 9 L'architecture 4.0%100 visits
    10. 10 Portrait Of A Woman In A Kimono 4.0%100 visits
    11. 11 JOSEPH NICOLAS ROBERT FLEURY (1797 1890) 4.0%100 visits
    12. 12 Maternité 4.0%100 visits
    13. — Coriolan this painting 0.0%0 visits

    Together these works take 100.0% of all the attention this artist's paintings received over the last twelve months. The catalogue holds 30 works by this artist, of which 12 were looked at at least once. This painting has not been looked at yet in that time — it closes the list without a rank. The same counts, month by month

    Bars measure attention, not quality. Pick the work at the top and this one: name one thing that might make a painting famous beyond how well it is painted.

    Artist and museum

    Artist

    Tony Robert-Fleury

    A Lineage of Precision and Grandeur

    Born on the outskirts of Paris in 1837, Tony Robert-Fleury entered the art world through a profound familial connection. As the son of the respected watercolorist Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury, he was raised within an environment that prioritized meticulous observation and technical rigor. This early immersion in the fine details of representation was further elevated by his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he sought the guidance of legendary masters such as Paul Delaroche and Léon Cogniet. Under their tutelage, Robert-Fleury did not merely learn to paint; he learned to command the stage of history, absorbing a sense of theatricality and narrative weight that would become the cornerstone of his celebrated career.

    The Narrative Canvas: From Romanticism to Atmosphere

    Robert-Fleury’s artistic evolution is a fascinating study in the transition of 19th-century sensibilities. His debut at the Salon de Paris in 1866, featuring the monumental Varsovie, immediately established him as a master of historical drama. This work, which commemorated the Polish uprising, showcased his ability to weave intense emotion into large-scale compositions. As his career progressed, his style began to navigate the delicate space between the dramatic intensity of Romanticism and the burgeoning interest in light and atmosphere characteristic of the Impressionist era. In masterpieces such as Le Dernier Jour de Corinth, one can observe a sophisticated interplay of color and light that moves beyond mere documentation toward a more nuanced, atmospheric exploration of the past. Whether capturing the quiet introspection of a Girl Reading or the gritty reality of historical struggle, his brushwork remained anchored in a profound respect for technical precision and psychological depth.

    A Pedagogical Legacy

    While his canvases continue to captivate collectors, Robert-Fleury’s impact on the trajectory of modern art is perhaps most enduringly felt through his role as an educator. During his long tenure at the Académie Julian, he served as a bridge between the classical traditions of the past and the radical innovations of the future. By fostering a tradition of realism while encouraging individual expression, he shaped the minds of several artists who would eventually dismantle the very academic structures he represented. His influence can be seen in the works of:

    Gustave Moreau, whose symbolic complexity drew from Robert-Fleury's narrative depth;

    Henri Matisse, a student who would later revolutionize color and form;

    Édouard Vuillard, who carried forward the intimate, textured sensibilities of the era.

    Through this lineage of mentorship, the spirit of Robert-Fleury’s dedication to the craft remains woven into the very fabric of modern art history.

    Where to read more

    Find this online

    QR code linking to the download page for Coriolan

    wahooart.com/en/art/download/tony-robert-fleury-coriolan-CWZCUB-en/

    Cite this artwork

    MLA
    Robert-Fleury, Tony. Coriolan. n.d., https://wahooart.com/en/art/tony-robert-fleury-coriolan-CWZCUB-en/
    APA
    Robert-Fleury, Tony (n.d.). Coriolan [Painting]. https://wahooart.com/en/art/tony-robert-fleury-coriolan-CWZCUB-en/
    Chicago
    Tony Robert-Fleury. Coriolan. n.d. https://wahooart.com/en/art/tony-robert-fleury-coriolan-CWZCUB-en/
    Harvard
    Robert-Fleury, Tony (n.d.) Coriolan. Available at: https://wahooart.com/en/art/tony-robert-fleury-coriolan-CWZCUB-en/

    Look closely

    Coriolan — Tony Robert-Fleury

    Look closely

    Answer in your own words. There are no wrong answers here — only answers you can explain.

    1. What catches your eye first, and why?
    2. Which colours or shapes create the mood — and what is that mood?
    3. How many faces can you find? ____ (our catalogue counts 12 — do you agree?)
    4. Look back at Alix Appearing In The Mask, earlier in this guide. Name two things it shares with this work, and one that is different.
    5. What might the artist have wanted you to feel?

    Your response

    Write a short paragraph about this artwork. Use the facts from the earlier parts of this guide, and your answers above.

    Questions & Answers

    Are the colors of "Coriolan" by Tony Robert-Fleury saturated or muted?

    The colors of "Coriolan" by Tony Robert-Fleury have a subtle color saturation. Saturation describes how vivid or muted the colors are.

    How many people view "Coriolan"?

    Statistics about "Coriolan" by Tony Robert-Fleury are on the artwork's Stats page: monthly visits of the artwork, visits of the artist's works, and country and language breakdowns of recent visitors.

    What colors dominate "Coriolan" by Tony Robert-Fleury?

    The color identity of "Coriolan" by Tony Robert-Fleury: an earthy palette, dominated by steel blue (#56839a).