Léon Bonnat : Au-Delà Des Portraits Catalogue Raisonné Des Portraits, Vol. 2

Initially known for his large-scale religious and decorative compositions, the painter Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) remains the great portraitist of the presidents of the Third Republic, politicians, the aristocracy and the French and American upper classes, as well as a number of artists, writers and musicians.

This second volume of the catalogue raisonné of Bonnat's work focuses on the works that precede his period of glory as a portraitist: works produced during his apprenticeship, religious painting, decorative compositions, Italian or Orientalist genre scenes. It illustrates the path that led the artist to become one of the leading portraitists of his time in 1875: his apprenticeship at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid, in Léon Cogniet's studio in Paris, and then at the Académie de France in Rome; his great ambition and his first successful works in the grand genre, religious painting and decorative compositions; and his brilliant participation in genre painting through his Italian and Orientalist scenes.

The personality of the young artist, his moments of doubt and his great ambition, his strength of character and willpower are evoked at length in this volume, based in particular on the correspondence exchanged with his closest friend.