Jean Béraud was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and his family moved to Paris soon after the death of his father. It was not until the breakout of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 that Béraud switched his career path from law to fine art. The artist’s first public exhibition occurred in 1872 with his first submission into the Paris Salon. He later exhibited with the Society of French Watercolorists at the 1889 Worlds Fair, also in Paris. His greatest achievement was his award of the prestigious Légion d’honneur in 1894. Béraud’s focus towards the end of his career moved away from his own art and towards participation in the numerous exhibition committees he belonged to, including the Salon de la Société National.
