Jacques Emile Blanche, French 1861-1942

Born in Paris, Blanche was the son of an eminent pathologist. He trained under Henri Gervex and was closely associated with Manet and Degas. From the early 1880s Blanche had been a frequent visitor to London where he spent a formative period working closely with Whistler and Sickert, exhibiting at the New English Art Club from 1887. During the 1890s he became a successful portrait painter of fashionable society figures such as Aubrey Beardsley, James Joyce, Francis Poictevin and Violet Trefusis. Blanche exhibited with the Societe Nationale and won a gold medal at the Exposition Universelles in Paris, 1900.

During his frequent visits to England, Blanche painted views of places in the south east of England including Brighton and Bournemouth, as well as scenes of Henley Regatta and Epsom Derby. His choice of subject matter extended to many of the capital's famous landmarks including Westminster, The Tower of London, Marble Arch and Hyde Park. His affection for Britain and his interest in depicting late Victorian society is similarly represented in the current view of Crystal Palace, itself a monument to great British design and visionary engineering of the period.