Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret

Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (7 January 1852 – 3 July 1929) was a French painter, one of the leading members of the naturalist school.

Biography

He was born in Paris, the son of a tailor, and was raised by his grandfather after his father emigrated to Brazil. Later he added his grandfather's name, Bouveret, to his own.

He became one of the leading French artists of the naturalist school and painted several paintings depicting Brittany. From 1869 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Léon Gérôme. He was one of the first to use the then new medium of photography to bring greater realism to his paintings. In 1891 he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour and in 1900 he became a member of the Institut de France. A number of his pictures were purchased by the British art collector George McCulloch, including The Madonna and Child 1880, Dans Le Foret, and a copy of La Cene (The Last Supper).

Dagnan-Bouveret was a close friend of the Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt. They met during their studies in Paris in the 1870s and were part of the artist circle around Jules Bastien-Lepage together with Gustave Courtois, among others.

Works