Biography

French painter, printmaker and designer. He was born to an artistic family and was precociously talented. In 1866 he entered the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied under Jean François Brémond (1807-1868) and Alexandre Cabanel. His Salon début in 1868 and his subsequent entries were well received, and in 1874 he won the Prix de Rome with the Death of Timophanes, Tyrant of Corinth (École Normale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris). Remaining in Italy for five years, Besnard worked in an academic style influenced by Pietro da Cortona and Michelangelo.

He married to the daughter of the sculptor Dubray. He stayed in London for two years, where he studied Reynolds, Gainsborough, Lawrence, and the Pre-Raphaelites. Returning to Paris he very quickly became an immensely successful portrait painter working in pastels.

In 1893 he traveled in Algeria, in 1906 in India. He became director of the École des Beaux-Arts, and in 1924 the fist painter accepted into the Académie Française.