Leon Francois Comerre

Léon François Comerre is best known for his portraits of beautiful women: smooth skin, rich fabrics, jewellery and soft studio light, painted with the polish of the French academic school. Many of his pictures dress his models in Orientalist costume, as in An Eastern Beauty.

He was born in Trélon in northern France in 1850. He studied in Lille, where he won a gold medal in 1867, and then in Paris under Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1875 he won the Grand Prix de Rome, which gave him three years at the French Academy in Rome. He showed at the Paris Salon from 1871, won medals in France and abroad, and was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1903.

His larger history pieces include Samson and Delilah. For most buyers, though, the draw is the portraits, where the textures of silk, gauze and hair are handled with great care. He died in Le Vésinet in 1916.