Henri-Pierre Picou

He was an academic painter and one of the founders of the Neo-Grec school, along with his close friends Gustave Boulanger, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Jean-Louis Hamon, also academic painters. All of them studied in the workshops of both Paul Delaroche and later Charles Gleyre. Picou's style was noticeably influenced by Gleyre. While the rest of the group generally painted classical and mythological subjects, Picou also received commissions for large religious frescoes from many churches, including the Église Saint-Roch. • Illustration — Picou's Allegory of Spring, painted in 1871, now housed at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello. His artistic debut was at the Salon of 1847. The next year he was awarded a second-class medal for his painting, Cléopâtre et Antoine sur le Cydnus. Also known as Cleopatra on the Cydnus, it is commonly regarded as Picou's masterpiece. This showing at the Salon of 1848 was written about by the critic Théophile Gautier, who felt that the subject matter was too ambitious, but also said that "As it is, it gives the best hope for the future of the young artist, and ranks among the seven or eight most important paintings of the Salon." In 1875, the painting was exhibited in New York, and afterward found lodgment on the walls of a private art gallery in San Francisco. • Illustration — An Idyll of Marriage Picou maintained a large workshop in Paris on the Boulevard de Magenta, which provided him room to work on his expansive frescoes. His popularity continued to rise and he went on to win the Second Prix de Rome in 1853 for his painting, Jésus chassant les vendeurs du Temple (The Moneylenders Chased from the Temple), and another second-class medal for his Salon painting in 1857. From his debut in 1847, he was a regular at the Salon, showing almost every year until his final exhibit in 1893. He has been called the most fashionable painter towards the close of the Second French Empire.

Henri-Pierre Picou studied at Beaux-Arts de Paris. Training under Charles Gleyre and Paul Delaroche is recorded. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history, mythological, allegory and religious. Works named in the authority record are The birth of Pindar, Good adventure and The Miraculous Draught. Work by Henri-Pierre Picou is recorded in the collections of Cleveland Museum of Art, Musée d'Orsay, Dahesh Museum of Art, Nantes Museum of Arts and Bargello National Museum. Distinctions recorded are Prix de Rome.

• Illustration — The Escape • Illustration — At The Fountain (1880) • Illustration — Angel of Love (1884) • Illustration — Innocence Seduced by Love (1886) • Illustration — The Birth of Venus, 1874 • Illustration — Sea Nymphs,1871 • Illustration — Venus Weighing Cupid • Illustration — L'Amour