Louis Joseph Raphael Collin (1850 - 1916)
[Raphael Collin]
When the French Revolutionists undertook to reconstruct the calendar as they
did everything else, they rearranged the months on the plan
which they called the Republican year. In this new almanac, "Floreal," or the month of flowers, was the eighth in order of succession, and extended from April 20th
to May 19th. This is the month which the painter typifies in his nymph basking in a woodland
glade on a couch of turf and wild-flowers. Louis Joseph Raphael Collin
was born in Paris in 1850, and was educated for a profession at the Lyceum Saint Louis and the College of
Verdun. Discarding the original purpose of his career, he, in 1869, entered
the studio of Bouguereau as a pupil, after which he made a course of study under
Cabanel. In 1873 he exhibited his first Salon picture, "Sleep," a magnificent nude which
secured him a medal, and is now at the Museum of Rouen. In 1875 another
picture of similar character was bought out of the Salon by the Government for
the Arras Museum, and in 1877 his "Daphne and Chloe" was also purchased for the Museum
of Alencon. He has been a member of the Legion of Honor since 1884.
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