Besnard, Albert

(1849-1934)

   painter, etcher

   Born in Paris, Albert Besnard was a student of Alexandre cabanel and, in 1874, won the prix de Rome. From 1880 to 1884, he was a much sought-after portraitist of the socially prominent in the tradition of Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, and Thomas Lawrence. Besnard's career was filled with official commissions, and he was rewarded with many important projects to decorate with murals the interior of several large and significant buildings (École de pharmacie, 1884; Hôtel de Ville de Paris; Sorbonne, 1896; Petit Palais, 1909; Théâtre-Français, 1910-13; palais de la Paix de la Haye). Greatly influenced by the academic tradition, he was nonetheless open to certain modernist trends (art nouveau, pre-Raphaelites-style symbolism). Besnard was elected to the Académie Française in 1924.