FRANÇOIS ÉDOUARD PICOT
1786 - 1868
A student of F. A. Vincent and his great rival J. L. David, Picot is, above all, known for his large scale historical and mythological subjects. He won second prize in the Prix de Rome competition of 1812 and exhibited at the Salon between the years 1819, where he won a first class medal, until 1839. Picot was made a chevalier in the Légion d’honneur in 1825, and an officier in 1852. Picot executed a number of commissions in churches around Paris and other public projects as well as the splendid Cupid and Psyche (Paris, Louvre), of which there is a delightful smaller version done for the Duke of La Rochefoucauld-d’Estissac (Private Collection, formerly Stair Sainty), attesting to his ability to portray human sexuality on a large scale.
