Pierre Auguste Cot

Pierre Auguste Cot is remembered above all for Springtime, a painting of two young lovers on a swing in a sunlit wood. It sums up his style: smooth, finely finished figures, soft skin tones, light fabrics and a sweet, romantic mood.

He was born in Bédarieux in southern France in 1837 and studied in Toulouse before moving to Paris, where he trained under Léon Cogniet, Alexandre Cabanel and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. He made his debut at the Salon in 1863 and was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1874. Most of his output was portraits, but his fame rests on Springtime of 1873 and The Storm of 1880, which shows a young couple running from the rain under a billowing cloak. Both hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

His Ophelia and Dionysia show the same polish. Look at the gauzy fabrics, which he painted almost transparent. He died in Paris in 1883.