Collette Bouvard (1941-1996) was the granddaughter of Eloi Noel Beraud, more commonly known by the name Auguste Bouvard, who found fame with his glowing impressionistic paintings of Venice. Having received a formal artistic education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she began to paint in the studio shared by her grandfather and father, Antoine Bouvard, and quickly picked up their impressionistic techniques and delicate handling of colour. Colette is best known for her paintings of Venice, preferring the picturesque narrow canals and backwaters where daily life became her main subject matter. Colette followed the techniques of her grandfather and father but painted with much looser brushstrokes and freer handling but the delicate palette was immediately recognisable as the ‘Bouvard’ trademark.