Background
Léon Bonnat was born on June 20, 1833 in Bayonne, France. Since 1846 to 1853, he lived in Madrid, where his father owned a bookshop.
National Academy of Design
École des Beaux-Arts
Réunion des Musées Nationaux
Musée Bonnat-Helleu
Léon Bonnat was born on June 20, 1833 in Bayonne, France. Since 1846 to 1853, he lived in Madrid, where his father owned a bookshop.
Bonnat studied art under Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta in Madrid. Some time later, he continued his studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris under the tutelage of Léon Cogniet.
Léon Bonnat early developed a popular eclectic style and embarked on a successful career, which brought him numerous commissions for historical paintings and portraits. In his early years, Bonnat created religious paintings, in which his study of Spanish Baroque art was evident. In 1882, he was appointed a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Thomas Eakins, Gustave Caillebotte and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec were among his students. In 1905, he was promoted to the post of a director. Also, during the period from 1900 to 1922, he headed the Réunion des Musées Nationaux. In 1901, Léon established the Musée Bonnat-Helleu in Bayonne, France.
Later in his life, Bonnat held the post of a teacher at the private atelier, which he ran before becoming a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
On his death, the painter bequeathed to his native Bayonne a notable art collection, including one of the finest collections of drawings, assembled during the 19th century.
Martyrdom of St. Denis
Le Triomphe de l'Art
Aigle et Lapin
Pierre-Bienvenu Noailles
Jacob Wrestling the Angel
Charles Ephrussi
The Resurrection of Lazarus
First Steps
Self Portrait dedicated to William Walters
An Egyptian Peasant Woman and Her Child
Madame Pasca
Fountain by St Peters Basilica in Rome
Portrait de madame Dotézac
Le Barbier negre a Suez
Portrait of Monsieur Allard
Job
The Broken Jug
Portrait of Antoine-Louis Barye with a Wax Model of Seated Lion
Fille romaine à la fontaine
Mary Sears (later Mrs. Francis Shaw)
William Thompson Walters
Portrait of Victor Hugo
Self-portrait
Giotto gardant les chèvres
Le cardinal Charles Lavigerie
Fillette endormie, détail
An Arab Sheik
A portrait of a young girl
Arabian Sheikhs in the Mountains
Portrait of George Aloysius Lucas
Idylle
Christ on the Cross
Bonnat was a passionate art collector.
Bonnat was never married. He lived with his mother and sister.