Portrait of William T. Walters  1883

Before moving to Paris in 1854, Bonnat trained in Madrid. The stark realism and sharp contrasts in light and shadow of Bonnat's mature style reflect the influence of the great 17th-century Spanish master Diego Velázquez. Until the late 1870s, Bonnat specialized in historical subjects and scenes inspired by a visit to the Holy Land and Egypt undertaken with J.-L. Gérôme in ...