Cormon, Fernand (b Paris, 24 Dec 1845; d Paris, 20 March 1924).

French painter. He studied initially in Brussels under Jean-François Portaels. In 1863 he returned to Paris, where for three years he was a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel and Eugène Fromentin. He made his début at the Salon in 1868 and in 1870 received a medal for the Marriage of the Niebelungen (1870; ex-Mus. B.-A., Lisieux, 1970). His painting the Death of King Ravana (1875; Toulouse, Mus. Augustins), taken from the Indian epic poem the Ramayana, was criticized for the choice of an obscure subject but was nevertheless awarded the Prix de Salon in 1875. Soon afterwards Cormon left France for Tunisia. After his return in 1877 he exhibited regularly at the Salon until his death, establishing a reputation as a painter of historical and religious subjects; he also produced some portraits. All of these were executed in an undistinguished academic style. His later works include Return from a Bear Hunt in the Stone Age (1884; Carcassonne, Mus. B.-A.).