Jules Elie Delaunay

Daphnis and Chloe are the characters of the eponymous novel by the 2nd century AD Greek novelist, Longus. Set on the Greek island of Lesbos, the story is probably the prototype of the modern romantic novel, with the characters enduring numerous tribulations before finding happiness together. Ever since its first publication, the story of Daphnis and Chloe has been retold and depicted countless times. In 19th century France, painters, sculptors and composers alike, found inspiration in this timeless tale of love and innocence."

A native of Nantes, Jules Elie Delaunay was a student of Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin and Louis Lamothe, and Prix-de-Rome recipient in 1856. Upon his return from Italy, he found great notoriety as a fresco painter of historical and mythological subjects. He painted the ceiling of one of the octagonal Salons in the Palais Garnier and was at work on a remarkable fresco of Attila and Geneviève in the Panthéon before his death in 1891.