BESNARD, PAUL ALBERT , French painter, born in Paris on June 2, 1849, studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, winning the Prix de Rome in 1874. He was a pupil of J. Bremond and of Cabanel. He lived in England from 1879 to 1883, and was a friend of Legros, from whom he learned the art of etching. He devoted himself to the study of colour and light as conceived by the impressionists, and he applied their new vision of light and atmosphere to ideological and decorative works on a large scale, such as his frescoes at the Sorbonne, the 1?cole de Pharmacie, the Salle des Sciences at the Hotel de Ville, the mairie of the first arrondissement, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, the Comedic Francaise, and the chapel of Berck hospital, for which he painted 12 "Stations of the Cross." He travelled to Algiers, Morocco and India, bringing back sketches sparkling with light and colour. From 1913 to 1919 he was director of the Academie de France in Rome, and on his return became director of the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and president of the Salon des Tuileries, which he helped to found in 1923. A great virtuoso, he achieved brilliant successes alike in water-colour, pastel, oil and etching; also in portraiture, in landscape and in decoration. A good example of his work is his portrait of Mme. Rejane; and his analysis of light can be studied in his picture "Femme qui se chauffe" at the Luxembourg in Paris.