Henri Regnault

Born in Paris on October 31, 1843, Henri-Georges-Alexandre Regnault was the son of Henri Victor Regnault, the celebrated chemist and professor at the Collège de France. He entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1861, training under Louis Lamothe and later Alexandre Cabanel, and won the Prix de Rome in 1866 with a monumental canvas of Thetis bringing armor to Achilles. At the French Academy in Rome he befriended Georges Clairin and traveled widely through Spain and Morocco, absorbing the influence of Velázquez and Goya.

His style shifted from academic history painting toward blazing color and Orientalist subjects. In 1868 he sent "Automedon with the Horses of Achilles" from Rome to the Salon; in 1869 his equestrian "General Prim" caused a sensation. The following year he completed "Salomé" in Tangier, modeling it on Maria Latini, and exhibited the controversial canvas at the 1870 Salon.

He also painted "Execution without Judgement under the Moorish Kings" and "A Spanish Woman." When war broke out in 1870, Regnault enlisted despite his exempt status as a Prix de Rome laureate. He was killed by enemy fire on January 19, 1871, during the Battle of Buzenval.

His death shocked France; Ernest Meissonier delivered his funeral oration, Camille Saint-Saëns composed a march in his honor, and the government posthumously purchased "Execution without Judgement" for the nation.