Albert Besnard

Albert Besnard, the son of a painter and a miniature paintress, first studied under Jean-François Bremond (1807-1968), and from 1866 at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1869, he had his first Salon exhibition and in the same year created his first murals in a church. In 1874 he received the Prix de Rome for La Mort de Timophane (The Death of Timophanes) and lived in the Villa Médici in Rome from 1874-78.

His marriage to the sculptress Charlotte-Gabrielle Dubray (1854-1931) in 1880 was followed by a long stay in London, where Besnard painted numerous portraits and other wall decorations. Before returning to Paris (1883), he received a commission for 12 murals at the new Sorbonne University. This was followed by numerous commissions for murals and ceiling paintings in public buildings.

In 1890 Besnard was a founding member of the Société National des Beaux-Arts. That same year he visited Spain and Morocco, and Algeria three years later. In 1896-1901, he took up residence at Berck in the Pas de Calais. In 1910-11, he made a trip to India and subsequently became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

From 1913-19, Besnard served as director of the Académie de France in Rome. In 1922, he was appointed director of the École des Beaux-Arts and two years later was admitted to the Académie Française. His honors included the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and memberships in the academies of Antwerp, Glasgow, and London.

Besnard was one of the most sought-after portraitists of his time. In addition, he created numerous female nudes and some allegorical paintings. In his wall and ceiling decorations, he painted mainly allegorical subjects, dealing mainly with modern philosophy and science in contemporary, realistic depictions.

Starting from an impressionist style of painting, his palette increasingly brightened and became impasto with his travels to North Africa and India. By combining free color painting with traditional composition, realistic representation, and modern, contemporary themes, his decorative work in particular represented a completely independent contribution to painting at the turn of the century. In addition, he created watercolors, pastels, and some designs for stained glass windows, as well as an extensive graphic oeuvre, mostly etchings and book illustrations.