Biard, Auguste

FRANÇOIS, a French painter. B. at Lyon, 1800. After studying in the Academy of Fine Arts of his native place, he visited Spain, Greece, Syria, and Egypt, and his sketches rapidly found their way into public collections and private galleries. Later, his love of travel led him to visit Ru ia, Norway, Lapland, Green land, and Spitz bergen. B. was chiefly succe ful in the delineation of comic and burlesque groupings, always taken from life. His principal works were: Arabs overtaken by the Sunoom in the Desert; Odalisque of Smyrna; The Sequel of a Masquerade; A Skirmish of Masquers with the Police; The Family Concert; Slave Market on the Gold Coast of Africa; Combat with Polar Bears; A Ball on an English Corvette, . D. 1882. His wife, from whom he separated in 1843, devoted herself to literature, and was known under the name of Léonie d'Aunet. She published many novels, but her best work was Voyage d'une Femme au Spitzberg, a narration of the journey which she took with her husband. Biarritz (bear-reetz), a seaside village of France, in the department of the Ba es Pyrénées, 5 miles from Bayonne; pop . 1,928. This place is much frequented for the sake of its baths and the beautiful scenery in its vicinity, and from its having been once the chosen marine residence of Napoleon III., Emperor of the French, who built a château here. Its fine sandy beach is noted along the coast.