Albert Mantelet

The procession

Albert Goguet Mantelet was a French artist who worked in oil, pastel and watercolour. He was considered one of the most accomplished pupils of Ernest Hébert and Heinrich Lehmann, both of whom exerted a strong influence on Mantelet's more classical early style. Mantelet developed a reputation as a painter of elegantly dressed women depicted in scenes from fashionable life. These show his mastery of the combination of neoclassical and impressionist styles which owe much to influential artists of his time such as Jacques Joseph Tissot and Claude Monet. He also painted classical landscapes, portraits and still lifes. As Mantelet's style evolved, he received critical acclaim and quickly became a success as an artist. Mantelet's paintings greatly appealed to wealthy European industrialists in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. This resulted in a number of lucrative commissions for portraits and other subjects. He became known as an artist who specialized in depicting fashionable members of high society dressed in haute couture, giving his clients insightful observations on the lives of fashionable members of the upper class, among whom Mantelet moved comfortably. His paintings of beautiful young women, decked out in their finery, amid sun-drenched riverbanks, bright lawns and formal gardens, were the playground of the privileged in London and Paris.