Provenance

Provenance of the sitter. Blanche was born in Paris, the son of an eminent pathologist. He studied painting and was closely connected to Manet and Degas. From the early 1880s he was a frequent visitor to London, where he worked with Sickert and Whistler. From 1887 onwards he exhibited his work with the New English Art Club and regularly at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy, and was in enormous demand as a portraitist on both sides of the channel. Blanche's talents as a painter earned his considerable wealth and a prominent place in the art world. A painter, novelist, collector and critic, Blanche was one of the most prominent members of the Anglo-French Society of his day. His circle included Renoir as well as the above named.