File talk:This Year Venuses Again (Daumier).jpg

"In December 1890, the leader of the Société des Artistes Français, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, propagated the idea that Salon should be an exhibition of young, yet not awarded, artists." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gardner_Bouguereau

"In 1866, Gardner was the first American woman to exhibit at the Paris Salon. Awarded a gold medal at the 1872 Salon, she became the first woman ever to receive such an honor. Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau was accepted to the Salon more than any other woman painter in history and all but a few of the men." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gardner_Bouguereau

"She studied in Paris under the figurative painter Hugues Merle (1823–1881), the well-known salon painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836–1911), and finally under William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gardner_Bouguereau

Hugues Merle (1823–1881)http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hugues_Merle_-_Hebe_apres_sa_chute.jpg

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836–1911) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Truth.jpg

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Birth_of_Venus_by_William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1879).jpg

Raphael Sanzio (1512) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Raphael_Galatea.jpg

Cybrarian's note: Seems to me "the first American woman to exhibit at the Paris Salon" would have a more extensive biography. I'm not trying to write anything new. I am trying to catch up with what has already been written. Wikapedia is no help!^)