Albert Bettannier

After the ceding of his native region Alsace-Lorraine to Germany following the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, he decided to keep his French nationality and moved to Paris.

He enrolled in the Académie des beaux-arts where he followed courses given by Henri Lehmann and Isidore Pils.

From 1881 onwards, he acquired some notoriety in the Salon des artistes français, where he frequently showed paintings depicting the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany.

Albert Bettannier was awarded the Legion d'honneur in 1908 for his work as a painter.

He died on 17 November 1932 and is buried at Vaugirard Cemetery in Paris.

La Tache Noire – one of Bettannier's most famous paintings. It depicts a child being taught about the "lost" province of Alsace-Lorraine in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War . This loss is a frequently recurring theme in his work.