François-Léon Benouville

1821-1859, Paris

The history painter, François-Léon Benouville, was the younger brother of the landscape painter, Jean Achille Benouville. He studied under François-Édouard Picot at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he made his debut at the Salon in 1838. François-Léon emulated his brother in winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1845. The works he produced in Rome focus on subjects from antiquity and early Christendom and are treated in a cool, classical formal idiom reminiscent of Ingres.