The French painter and printmaker Jul Hanriot had a penchant for pretty women, and made a speciality of producing tasteful nudes for discerning clients. He is best known for taking his fondness a step too far when in 1877 he had an affair with Suzanne Leenhoff, the wife of Édouard Manet. Manet, who had encouraged and recommended the young Hanriot, inviting him into his home to meet his family. When Manet discovered the liaison he threatened to kill Hanriot if he approached his wife again, and Hanriot was obliged to leave Paris to become a marine painter in the eastern coastal town of Arcachon until the furore had calmed down.

Hanriot grew up in in Arpajon, a small town south of Paris, and showing a talent for painting became a student of Isidore Pils, whose studio he attended without being enrolled at the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Initially producing portraits and landscapes in oil, then female nudes and seascapes, he exhibited at the Académie Salon from 1877, then at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1881, becoming a member in 1883.

During the 1890s he regularly engraved images for periodicals such as L’univers illustré and L’estampe moderne, and drew and engraved historical plates for the school book publisher Armand Colin from 1892 onwards. After the turn of the century Hanriot reappeared in the painting salons, among others at the Salon des Indépendants (1905–10) and the Salon d’Automne of 1910. His last Salon des Artistes Français was that of 1920–21.

His first marriage was with one of his models, Jeanne Bernheim, who he divorced to marry the seamstress and designer Marie-Antoinette Berbegier, also known as Marie de Solar. They separated after a few years, and Hanriot then married Jeanne Bernheim for a second time.

We are very grateful to our Russian friend Yuri for suggesting the inclusion of this artist, and for supplying the images.