Galerie Paul Prouté

A descendant of artists, Maurice Boutet de Monvel entered Louis-Henri de Rudder’s studio in 1869 and, a year later, joined Alexandre Cabanel’s studio at the École des Beaux-Arts; he would go on to study in the studios of Jules Lefèbvre and Gustave Boulanger as well. Once the war—in which he served—was over, Boutet de Monvel moved away from these academic traditions, and his paintings from the mid-1870s readily evoke the chiaroscuro of a Ribera; an encounter with Carolus-Duran, followed by a trip to Algeria in 1876, subsequently lightened his palette. Ultimately, in the late 1870s, the artist abandoned history painting to devote himself to children’s illustration and portraits of children—genres that brought him success and earned him international renown.