Portrait of Anne-Marie Dagnan, 1880
Gustave Claude Étienne Courtois
Gustave Claude Étienne Courtois (1859-1923) painted this portrait of his father's cousin in 1880, as a presentation piece to her and her husband, Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929). Courtois and Dagnan-Bouveret were classmates at the École des Beaux-Arts, and were both students of Jean-Léon Gérôme. The two young artists also shared a studio in Paris, and spent summers together in the country, where Courtois first introduced his great-uncle's daughter, Anne-Marie, to his good friend, Dagnan-Bouveret. Anne-Marie and Dagnan-Bouveret were married by 1879, and his wife became the subject of many of Dagnan-Bouveret's paintings to come.
Both Courtois and Dagnan-Bouveret held successful careers, Courtois as a historical and genre painter, and the sometime portraitist, and Dagnan-Bouveret as a member of the French Naturalist movement.
Portrait of his Fiancée, Anne-Marie Walter, 1878