Madame Besnard

The French artist Albert Besnard is perhaps best known in Minneapolis for the celebration of his son that John Singer Sargent recorded in his masterpiece, The Birthday Party (see Mia 62.84). Besnard and his wife Charlotte Dubray, both artists, were friends of the American expatriate painter. Besnard was a successful painter and printmaker. His artistic output was highly varied, ranging from decorative wall murals in public buildings to fashionable portraits and intimate studies. Again and again, he returned to the subject of his family; the museum possesses seven etchings representing his wife and children. This portrait from 1884 depicts Madame Besnard in nearly the identical pose that Sargent used the following year in The Birthday Party.