(1857 - 1923)
Ernest Normand was a Victorian painter of classical, history and biblical subjects, who also painted portraits. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London between 1880 and 1883, and at the Academie Julien in Paris under Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. In 1884, Normand married the painter Henrietta Rae. The Normands shared a studio in Holland Park Road and were friends with fellow painters George Frederic Watts and Frederic Leighton. After his marriage, Normand concentrated on Orientalist themes and painted many harem scenes. In 1900, he painted ‘King John Granting the Magna Carta’, a large fresco for the Royal Exchange building in London.
