Lot Essay
Bayard was a student of Léon Cogniet and began exhibiting at the Salon in 1873. By the end of the Franco-Prussian War, he was one of the most popular painters in Paris of large-scale genre pictures. Bayard's costume paintings usually depict festive gatherings of 18th century nobility, recalling the fêtes champêtres of Watteau and Fragonard. He was in huge demand for private collections, hotels and public buildings, and several canvases adorn the foyer of the Théâtre Palais Royal in Paris.