Pierre Auguste Cot

Pierre Auguste Cot (17 February 1837 – 2 August 1883) was a French painter of the Academic Classicism school. Cot was born in Bédarieux, Hérault, and initially studied at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse before going to Paris. He studied under Leon Cogniet, Alexandre Cabanel and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. In 1863 he made a successful debut at the Salon, and from the 1870s, his popularity grew quickly.