Author name: Alexandre Cabanel.
(1823, Montpellier, France - 1889). French painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well-known as a portrait painter. The winner of the Prix de Rome in 1845, he ranked with Bouguereau as one of the most successful and influential academic painters of the period and one of the sternest opponents of the Impressionists also winner of the Grande Médaille d'Honneur at the Salons of 1865, 1867, and 1878.
Reference:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cabanel/
http://www.answers.com/topic/alexandre-cabanel-1