PERRAULT, Léon-Jean-Bazille

French painter, born to a modest family. A student of William Bouguereau and François-Edouard Picot, he exhibited at the SalonGLOSSARYIn the French language of the 18th and 19th centuries it designated an actual exhibition space, as well as the academic art exhibitions staged in the Salon d'Apollon of the Louvre since 1667. From 1737, the exhibitions took place biennially and, after the French Revolution, annually in the Salon Carré of the Louvre in Paris. Towards the end of the 19th century the official Salon jury was dissolved in order to make way for a committee of state-approved artists, i.e. former Salon members, who created the highly influential Société des Artistes Français. from 1863 onwards, producing many genreGLOSSARYIn a broad sense, the term is used to mean a particular branch or category of art; landscape and portraiture, for example, are genres of painting, and the essay and the short story are genres of literature. works which were immensely popular. He was famous for his paintings of children. His focus on children, who he saw as innocent and charming, appealed to the growing cult of childhood that saw children not as miniatureGLOSSARYTerm originally applied to the art of manuscript illumination but later used of paintings, usually portraits, executed on a very small scale. The earliest miniaturists (16th century) continued to use the materials of the illuminators, painting in gouache on vellum or card. adults but as beings with their own characteristics.

Perrault continued to exhibit at the Salons until the end of his career. In 1887 he was awarded France's high honour and named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. At the Expositions Universelles of 1889 and 1900, he received a bronzeGLOSSARYAn alloy of copper (usually about 90 per cent) and tin, often also containing small amounts of other metals such as lead or zinc. Since antiquity it has been the metal most commonly used in cast sculpture because of its strength, durability, and the fact that it is easily workable - both hot and cold - by a variety of processes. It is easier to cast than copper because it has a lower melting-point, and its great tensile strength makes possible the protrusion of unsupported parts - an advantage over marble sculpture. The colour of bronze is affected by the proportion of tin or other metals present, varying from silverish to a rich, coppery red, and its surface beauty can be enhanced when it acquires a patina. and silver medal, respectively. In 1873 he was appointed to represent France as "Diplômât d'honneur" to Vienna, Philadelphia and London. He also became a member of the Société des Artistes Français and by the end of his career was "hors concours" at the Salon, allowing him to exhibit freely without the necessity of submitting work for jury acceptance.