France 1856-1895 was a French figure and portrait painter, born in Paris, where he studied under Lefebvre and Boulanger, and in 1880 won the Prix de Rome. His pictures are usually piquant, sparkling representations of modern life, eminently Parisian in style, but the audacious realism of his earlier work is not maintained in his later, which is somewhat characterless. His portraits in pastel are also notable. His most widely known picture is Apres le bal (After the ball, 1889). Other excellent examples are the portraits of Madame Galli-Marie as Carmen (1884, Marseille Museum); the Princesse Mathilde and My Parents (1890, Lyons Museum); A Spanish Woman (Pontoise Museum); and a Nude Figure (1890). He was awarded a first-class medal for pastel in 1889 and the decoration of the Legion of Honor in 1891.