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Ernest de Saisset: Paintings From the Permanent Collection

Through 2003

Ernest de Saisset, Self-Portrait, 1893, oil on canvas, de Saisset Museum permanent collection, Gift of Isabel de Saisset, 1.52. higher-resolution image

higher-resolution image

Ernest de Saisset (1864 - 1899) was born to a prominent San Jose family who immigrated to the United States from France during the Gold Rush years. He was the youngest son of Pedro de Saisset, founder and president of the Brush Electric Light Company of San Jose, and Maria J. Palomares, who had been married previously to Antonio Sunol. Pedro and Maria Palomares de Saisset began their life together with considerable advantages, and became more prosperous with time. They possessed real estate holdings in the San Jose area, as well as 3, 313-acre ranch in Alameda County.

The couple had four children: Henrietta, Ernest, Pierre, and Isabel. The daughters attended the State Normal School, while the sons attended Santa Clara College. Henrietta eventually married Dr. Eugene Filipello, and was the only de Saisset child to marry. None of the four siblings produced offspring.

Ernest de Saisset enrolled in classes at SCC at age 16, staying on for three academic years. In his third and final year, he studied oil painting with Father Tortone, which helped to determine his future path. Finding an experienced professional art teacher in San Jose in the mid-1880's was an impossible task. The de Saisset family still had roots in France, inspiring him to travel to Paris to pursue further art study. He departed for Paris in early 1886, and enrolled at the Academie Julian in Paris. Although the studied with a number of masters, it was Adolphe William Bouguereau who had the greatest impact on his aesthetic direction.

Ernest returned to San Jose in 1895 and died at a very young age from rheumatism on December 4, 1899. His parents outlived him -- his father died in 1902, and his mother in 1907 -- as did his sister Henrietta, who died in 1947. There is no record of Pierre's death, as he remained an expatriate in France for many years. Isabel, the de Saisset Museum's founder, died in 1950. The de Saisset Museum was built with Isabel's funds in the memory of her younger brother.

This survey of ten paintings from the Museum's permanent collection traces the impact of personal life events on the style and content of Ernest de Saisset's paintings.