Albert de Belleroche was born into one of the oldest French noble families who had fled to England as Huguenots in 1685. Nevertheless, young Albert only spent the first years of his life in Wales. After the death of his father, he moved back with his family to the home of his ancestors in 1871. De Belleroche studied in Paris in the studio of Carolus Duran after finishing general school. Part of his artistic training consisted of spending many hours in Parisian museums painting the paintings.
As a founding member of the Salon d'Automne, he was familiar with leading French intellectuals and artists and organized many commercial exhibitions. Among others, he worked with great painters such as Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The author Oscar Wilde was also one of his good friends. Toulouse-Lautrec met De Belleroche at the age of eighteen. The two lateral thinkers were united by a deep friendship and love for the painter model Lili. The beautiful Lili, who embodied the French Belle Epoque like no other, became De Belleroche's lover. The celebrated American painter John Singer Sargent was also a lifelong friend. Sargent's work with pastel provided De Belleroche with great inspiration. Together with his own sensitivity for colour tones and shapes, De Belleroches developed his specifically subtle and delicate painting style, in which the motifs appear almost transparent and as if soaked in light. De Belleroche was also fascinated by the medium of lithography. His passion for it brought him the influential position of one of the leading figures in the field of lithographic portrait painting. The former printmaker of the British Museum A.M. Hind crowned De Belleroche's lithographic works as ″eine the greatest achievement of the craft since his Entdeckung″.
Since the rich aristocratic son did not have to make a living from his art, he hardly ever took on painting commissions and was thus able to concentrate fully on his own ideas and select models that really interested him. It may be that De Belleroche is therefore little known. In those days, clients were still catalysts for fame and commercial success. Nonetheless, De Belleroche was a much-loved artist during his lifetime because of his productivity and zest for life. Today, the noble painter is rightly receiving more and more attention.
Albert de Belleroche was born into one of the oldest French noble families who had fled to England as Huguenots in 1685. Nevertheless, young Albert only spent the first years of his life in Wales. After the death of his father, he moved back with his family to the home of his ancestors in 1871. De Belleroche studied in Paris in the studio of Carolus Duran after finishing general school. Part of his artistic training consisted of spending many hours in Parisian museums painting the paintings.
As a founding member of the Salon d'Automne, he was familiar with leading French intellectuals and artists and organized many commercial exhibitions. Among others, he worked with great painters such as Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The author Oscar Wilde was also one of his good friends. Toulouse-Lautrec met De Belleroche at the age of eighteen. The two lateral thinkers were united by a deep friendship and love for the painter model Lili. The beautiful Lili, who embodied the French Belle Epoque like no other, became De Belleroche's lover. The celebrated American painter John Singer Sargent was also a lifelong friend. Sargent's work with pastel provided De Belleroche with great inspiration. Together with his own sensitivity for colour tones and shapes, De Belleroches developed his specifically subtle and delicate painting style, in which the motifs appear almost transparent and as if soaked in light. De Belleroche was also fascinated by the medium of lithography. His passion for it brought him the influential position of one of the leading figures in the field of lithographic portrait painting. The former printmaker of the British Museum A.M. Hind crowned De Belleroche's lithographic works as ″eine the greatest achievement of the craft since his Entdeckung″.
Since the rich aristocratic son did not have to make a living from his art, he hardly ever took on painting commissions and was thus able to concentrate fully on his own ideas and select models that really interested him. It may be that De Belleroche is therefore little known. In those days, clients were still catalysts for fame and commercial success. Nonetheless, De Belleroche was a much-loved artist during his lifetime because of his productivity and zest for life. Today, the noble painter is rightly receiving more and more attention.
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