The Early Years in Paris Born in Paris, France, Gaston Béthune began his artistic path under the guidance of the landscape painter Jules-Achille Noël. His formal training continued at the École des beaux-arts de Paris, where he studied under Léon Bonnat and Pierre François Eugène Giraud. These early years shaped a hand that was equally comfortable with the broad strokes of oil and the delicate touch of watercolor. By 1876, he was makin…