BONNAT  , LtON

JOSEPH FLORENTIN (1833— ), French painter, was born at Bayonne on the loth of June 1833 . He was educated in Spain, under Madrazo at Madrid, and his long series of portraits shows the influence of Velasquez and the Spanish realists . In 1869 he won a medal of honour at Paris, where he became one of the leading artists of his day, and in 1888 he became professor of painting at the Ecole des Beaux Arts . In May 1905 he succeeded Paul Dubois as director . His vivid portrait-painting is his most characteristic work, but his subject pictures, such as the " Martyrdom of St Denis " in the Pantheon, are also famous . BONNE-CARRERE, GUILLAUME DE (1754—1825), French diplomatist, was born at Muret in Languedoc on the 13th of February 1754 . He began his career in the army, but soon entered the diplomatic service under Vergennes . A friend of Mirabeau and of Dumouriez, he became very active at the Revolution, and Dumouriez re-established for him the title of director-general of the department of foreign affairs (March 1792) . He remained at the ministry, preserving the habits of the diplomacy of the old regime, until December 1792, when he was sent to Belgium as agent of the republic, but he was involved in the treason of Dumouriez and was arrested on the 2nd of April 1793 . To justify himself, he published an account of his conduct from the beginning of the Revolution . He was freed from prison in July 1794 . Napoleon did not trust him, and gave him only some unimportant missions .

After 1815 Bonne-Carrere retired into private

life, directing a profitable business in public carriages between Paris and Versailles .