Henri Caro-Delvaille

Son of a money-changer. He began drawing at an early age and studied at the School of Design and Painting in Bayonne. Enlisted in the 6th Hussars in Bordeaux, he made portraits of most of his regiment's superiors. After his period of enlistment and in spite of his father's objections, Caro-Delvaille left his native Bayonne to paint in Paris. He studied briefly at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but quit to take a studio. There, he painted alone for four years before debuting at the Salon of 1901 where his paintings of middle class women enjoying idle hours were an instant success. He won a bronze medal at the same Salon.