Thierry Grillet

Jacques Joseph or James Tissot, lived a splendid life between Paris and London during the Belle Epoque. He cannot be assigned to either the English or the French tradition. The first name James - which he adopted in 1859 - and his years in London (1871-1882) made him an artist between both worlds. The difficulty of categorizing Tissot is also reflected in his work. A continuity between his glamorous social portraits and the biblical illustrations - between the dandy and the businessman, the "ingenious merchant", as the painter John Singer Sargent called him - is difficult to establish.

Best known as an innovator in Realism, Courbet was a painter of figurative compositions, landscapes and seascapes. He also worked with social issues, and addressed peasantry and the grave working conditions of the poor. His work belonged neither to the predominant Romantic nor Neoclassical schools. Courbet believed the Realist artist's mission was the pursuit of truth.