
Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
French artist Carolus-Duran created this tender depiction of maternal affection showing a mother leaning down to kiss her young child. The painting's title, "Le Baiser" (The Kiss), captures an intimate domestic moment rendered with the polished technique and fluid brushwork that made Carolus-Duran one of the most sought-after portrait painters in late 19th-century Paris. The soft handling of flesh tones and fabrics demonstrates his technical mastery.
Born Charles Auguste Émile Durand, Carolus-Duran studied in Paris and traveled to Spain, where Velázquez's work deeply influenced his approach to painting. He became famous for society portraits and ran an influential teaching atelier where John Singer Sargent became his most celebrated pupil, later surpassing his master in fame. This painting hangs at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille in northern France, which holds one of France's largest art collections after the Louvre.

Théodore Géricault
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille, Lille

Jules Bastien-Lepage
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille, Lille

Jules Breton
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille, Lille

Gustave Courbet
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille, Lille
Other masterpieces from the Academic Art movement

Rosa Bonheur, 1853
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Alexandre Cabanel, 1863
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1909
Tate Britain, London

Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888
Private Collection, Unknown

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1873
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1879
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Frederic Leighton, 1895
Tate Britain, London

Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1866
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
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