245 - Maurice ELIOT (1862–1945),

Maurice ELIOT (1862–1945), Êtretat Cliff. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated “92” in the lower left corner. In a beautiful gilded and carved wooden frame decorated with palm leaves and lambrequins in the Louis XV/Regency style. 53.5 x 72.5 (visible area) 75 x 93 A student of Émile Bin, then of Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts, Maurice Eliot won the Second Prix de Rome in 1888 with his painting *Ulysses and Nausicaa*. A renowned Post-Impressionist painter and pastel artist, he depicted interiors and landscapes with refinement. This is particularly evident in *The Cliffs of Étretat*, painted with softness and lightness at sunrise. A multidisciplinary artist, he experimented with lithography and illustrated works by Victor Hugo, Maupassant, and Banville; he devoted the latter part of his career to teaching drawing at the École Polytechnique until 1932. Some of his works are housed at the Musée d’Orsay, the Petit Palais, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon.