Ophelia

Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret, Parisian by birth, enrolled at the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in 1869. A pupil of Gérôme, he was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1876 - the year of his Salon debut. Although his early paintings depicted mythological subjects, he very quickly absorbed the lessons of both Realism and the Barbizon school, concentrating on events from modern life. His best known works in this style are the Noces chez le photographe in Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyons and Les Chemineaux at the Assemblée National in Paris. His subsequent friendship with the painter Bastien-Lepage inspired Dagnan-Bouveret to paint a number of religious genre scenes. Dagnan-Bouveret's eclectic talents extended to portraiture where he was in great demand amongst Parisian high society. In 1889 he was awarded a Medaille d'Honneur at the Exposition Universelle, the culmination of a highly successful career.