Léon Bonnat

Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (20 June 1833 – September 8, 1922) was a French painter.

He was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in Madrid, Spain, where his father owned a bookshop. [http://www.artfact.com/features/viewArtist.cfm?1=1&searchType=artist&artistRef=O2WDUSDC7W ArtFact. Retrieved November 27, 2006.] In Madrid he received his artistic training under Madrazo. He later worked in Paris, where he became known as a leading portraitist. His many portraits show the influence of Velázquez and the Spanish realists. He won a medal of honor at Paris in 1869, where he became one of the leading artists of his day. Bonnat went on to become a professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1882. In May 1905 he succeeded Paul Dubois as director.

His vivid portrait-painting is his most characteristic work, but his subject pictures, such as the "Martyrdom of St Denis in the Pantheon", are also famous.

Some of Bonnat's more notable students include: Gustave Caillebotte, Suzor-Coté, Georges Braque,Raoul Dufy, Marius Vasselon, Fred Barnard, Aloysius O'Kelly, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. [http://wwar.com/masters/b/bonnat-leon.html World Wide Arts Resources. Retrieved November 27, 2006.]

References

*1911

Footnotes