Another of the great modern exponents of figure painting in France, though in a totally different feeling and manner to Carolus Duran, is Leon Basile Perrault, who was born at Poitiers in 1832. He was a student under Picot and Bouguereau, and obtained an Honorable Mention for his very first exhibit at the Salon, in 1861. He took his first medal three years later, and many of his works have been acquired by the State for various museums. His pictures are well known in the United States, where they have long been popular with collectors. In addition to exact paintings he has executed a number of important decorations, and as a portrait painter his place is inthe first rank. Perrault is a strong and careful draughtsman, a fine colorist, and a finished but not labored executant. His composition is always happy, his subjects well chosen, pleasing and full of interest, and his pictures have that quality which causes people to say: “His figures live and speak.”