Jean Beraud Biography
Jean Béraud (St. Petersburg, 12 January 1849 – Paris, 4 October 1935) was a French painter of the Impressionist school. He dedicated himself to genre painting, mainly from the Parisian environment, and to portraits. Jean Béraud was born in St. Petersburg with his twin sister Melania, as his father, a sculptor, probably worked on the works of St. Isaac's Cathedral. In 1853 his father died and the young Béraud returned to Paris with his mother, Geneviève Eugénie Jacquin, and three sisters. After studying at the Condorcet Lycée in Paris, he followed the path of art and was a pupil of Léon Bonnat at the École des beaux-arts. He was admitted to the "Salon" for the first time in 1872, but only achieved success in 1876, thanks to his painting The Return from the Burial. He then became one of the leading painters and witnesses of Parisian life during the Belle Époque, but he also created around 200 portraits. In 1890 he founded the "Société nationale des beaux-arts", together with Rodin, Joseph Meissonnier and Puvis de Chavannes, and was soon elected vice-president. Béraud was a careful observer. His style is characterized by a lively realism, which allowed him to represent with acumen and sometimes with fine irony the muffled environment of the Parisian bourgeoisie, the small professions, the settings of the bistros and the daily scenes in the streets of the city. Béraud was one of Marcel Proust's witnesses in the duel that took place in Meudon against Jean Lorrain in February 1897 due to an article deemed offensive in Les Plaisirs et les Jours. He received the insignia of Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1887, and was then promoted to Officer in 1894. Béraud never married and had no children. He died in Paris at the age of 86 and was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery, Division 1.
