The tradition of beauty.

Alexandre Cabanel was a French painter who in the 19th century made a remarkable career as a carpenter's son from Montpellier who studied art in Paris and became a darling of the noblesse as well as working at the court of Napoleon III. The main motifs in his work revolve around mythological subjects, human tragedy, and a romantic approach to nudity with the "Birth of the Venus" as his most known piece. The Wallraff-Richartz Museum in Cologne currently exhibits 60 of his most important works. Another notable fact is that the architecture of the exhibition was designed by another artist from Montpellier, former Couturier Christian Lacroix who actually once had the intention to become a museum curator after studying art history and graduating from the Ecole de Louvre.