Albert Lynch

Albert Lynch (1860–1950) was a Parisian painter of German-Peruvian ancestry.

Albert Lynch
Born	26 September 1860 Gleisweiler
Died	1950 Monaco
Nationality	Peru
Occupation	Painter

Biography

Alberto Fernando Lynch was born on 26 September 1860 in Gleisweiler in the Rhineland of Germany,[1] and baptised there on 21 March 1861.[2] His father, Diego Lynch, had been born in Chachapoyas, Peru in November 1812, the son of a family of merchants, and had moved to Paris in the late 1840s. His mother was Adele Bertha Emma Koeffler (born 1834 or 1835),[3] the daughter of Thomas Koeffler, a German landscape painter who was working in Paris in the 1850s. The two had married in New York on 9 May 1852.[4]

The family returned to Paris, where Albert Lynch subsequently studied at l'École des Beaux-Arts, under the guidance of painters Jules Achille Noël, Gabriel Ferrier and Henri Lehmann. He showed a portrait at the Salon in 1879,[5] and continued to exhibit there regularly until at least 1934.[4] At the Exposition Universelle of 1900 he received a gold medal.

The women of his time were his favorite subject to paint and he preferred pastel, gouache and watercolor although he occasionally worked in the oil technique. His work maintained the spirit of the Belle Époque. He illustrated such books as Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac and La Parisienne by Henry Becque.

Lynch moved to Monaco in 1930, where he died in 1950, survived by his wife Marie Anna Victoria Bacouel, who he had married in Paris on 28 October 1896.[4]

Some confusion can be found in reference works about the dates and places of Lynch's birth and death. Given the strong anti-German feeling in Paris after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–1871, Lynch seems to have been happy to play up the Peruvian side of his background, and it seems to have become generally circulated that he had been born in Peru, in Lima or Trujillo.[6][7] A date of birth of 1851, and date of death of 1912, have also become frequently presented.[8] None of this is correct.[4]

Gallery

• 
  A 1903 engraving of Joan of Arc by Lynch featured in the Figaro Illustre magazine
• 
  Beautiful Betty
• 
  A Young Beauty
• 
  A Young Beauty With Red Hair
• 
  L heure Du Thé (Tea Time)
• 
  Une Femme Prenant le Thé (A Lady Having Tea)
• 
  Fresh From The Garden
• 
  Portrait of a Young Woman, 1890
• 
  Femmes Prenant le Thé (Women Having Tea)
• 
  Portrait of a Woman, 1895
• 
  The Jolly Boat
• 
  Young woman with a Hat
• 
  A Summer Stroll
• 
  A Young Beauty With Flowers In Her Hair
• 
  The Letter
• 
  Woman with Black Turban
• 
  At The Bullfight
• 
  Portrait Of An Elegant Lady
• 
  A Lady With A Fan
• 
  An Elegant Lady Being Dressed
• 
  A Lady and Her Chambermaid

References

1. Stated in Lynch's marriage record in 1896, witnessed by his mother, elder brother, nephew, and brother in law. pdf Original digitisation available from the Archives de Paris (scroll forward nine pages)
2. Baptism summary, via familysearch.org
3. baptised 3 February 1835 in Germersheim, (summary via familysearch.org)
4. An extensive thread from 2016 on the "Art Detective" board of the Art UK website investigates Lynch's career and family background in some depth, with detailed referencing. Accessed 17 October 2019
5. 1879 Catalogue of the Paris Salon, p. 350
6. Marie Robinson Wright (1909), The Old and New Peru, p. 230 "Albert Lynch, also a Peruvian, a native of Trujillo, is among the famous painters at the French capital." (via archive.org).
7. The Mentor - World Traveler (1927). Vol 15, page 32. "Albert Lynch was born in Lima, Peru, in 1851, but was essentially a French painter of the Paris schools." (snippet, via Google Books)
8. Benezit Dictionary of Artists (2011): Albert Lynch, "Peruvian, 19th century, male. Active in France. Born 1851, in Lima; died 1912." Accessed 18 October 2019.

External links

• Media related to Albert Lynch at Wikimedia Commons
• Works by or about Albert Lynch at Internet Archive