Pierre Joseph Mousset

Pierre Joseph Mousset (1850 - 1894) - "Naked Slave Girl" - oil on canvas, 103 x 190 cm / 153 x 240 cm

Pierre Joseph Mousset studied law but quickly found his vocation in painting. Under the tutelage of his teacher, Master Villar, Pierre maintained his studies. He was greatly inspired by the works of Eugene Delacroix, whom he admired. At the end of 1880, he began exhibiting large-format paintings from his studio in the east of Paris. He married Jacqueline Offenbach, the youngest daughter of composer Jacques Offenbach. Several of his works have been awarded at official fairs.

His impressive female nudes were completely in keeping with the times and were warmly welcomed in official circles. The main subject on which he often painted was the death of Cleopatra. Fascination with France, the Orient of the time, and its enchantment in the minds of Europeans inspired artists to capture and depict the Orient through their own imagination. Mousset is currently considered an underappreciated French author.