Etienne Adolphe Piot

Étienne Adolphe Piot was a student of Léon Cogniet, one of the most prolific teachers at the École des Beaux-Arts whose pupils over three decades included Rosa Bonheur, Alfred de Dreux, Jules Lefebvre, Hugues Merle and Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, amongst many others. As is true of the best of his peers, Piot made an impression at the Paris Salon, winning accolades for his virtuoso technique and high degree of finish, as seen in paintings such as Les bulles de savon. In the present work, a young girl plays with a cup of bubbles, a symbol of the ephemeral nature of childhood, the fragile bubbles a reminder of the transience and beauty of youth.