Yves Brayer, painter and print-maker, was born in Versailles and studied in Paris at the Academies in Montparnasse and later at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. First exhibited in the Paris Salons on 1927 and travelled to Spain, Morocco and went to Italy where he won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1930. Had his first one-man exhibition in Paris in 1934. Illustrated books with etchings, copper-plate engravings and lithographs, created murals and sets and costumed for the Theatre Francais and the Paris Opera. Elected to the Academie des Beaux-Arts in 1957 and was also president of the Salon d’Autome and curator of the Musee Marmottan for 11 years.