Ernest Hébert

Ernest Hébert (1817 – 1908) was a french academic painter. After a classical training at the Beaux Arts in Paris, Hébert quickly rose to fame with the painting Malaria (1848-9). He subsequently split his time between France and Italy where he was twice appointed Director of the Academy of France in Rome (from 1867-73 and 1885 – 1890). He became a popular portrait painter among the high society of Paris during the Second Empire and the Third Republic, due to his sophisticated style which was particularly suited to depicting female sitters with a certain poetry and mystery. His favourite subjects were inspired by his time in  Italy, specifically rural scenes conveyed with a melancholic realism. He is responsable for the mosaic in the apse of the Pantheon in 1884.