(b Paris, Oct 30, 1843; d Buzenval, Jan 19, 1871).
French painter, son of Victor Regnault. He showed exceptional abilities as a draughtsman from an early age. After a traditional classical education he was sent in 1860 to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he studied with Louis Lamothe (1822–69) and Alexandre Cabanel. In 1866 he won the Prix de Rome competition with Thetis Giving the Weapons of Vulcan to Achilles (Paris, Ecole N. Sup. B.-A.). In Italy he began several other ambitious history paintings, including Automedon Taming the Horses of Achilles (1868; Boston, MA, Mus. F.A.; sketch, 1868, Paris, Mus. d’Orsay) and Judith and Holofernes (1869; Marseille, Mus. B.-A.)
In 1868 Regnault travelled with his friend Georges Clairin to Madrid, where he was permitted to continue his work on a Prix de Rome bursary. He studied Velázquez and Goya in the Museo del Prado and mingled with the upper and lower classes of the Spanish capital. He was active as a portrait painter, and his most important work of the period is the theatrical equestrian portrait of the liberal revolutionary ...
