Etienne Adolphe Piot
(1850 - 1910)
"Adolphe Piot's Reverie is a good example of the artist's skill and of the general character of his subjects. We find in the Salon catalogues a list of these fanciful titles, together with a number of portraits into which, as is easy to conjecture from the head we copy, the artist would put a mingled grace and sincerity of expression not always found in these works. A head by Piot is always pleasant to come upon in our galleries, and they have several times made their way to out shores (England). There is nothing meretridious about them; the model is always well chosen for something beside mere regularity of features. We become interested in the personality of the artist's sitters. Piot was born at Digoin, the port of the Canal du Centre, where it meets the Loire. There would seem to be no particular reason why an artist should have been born in this busy town of freighting and traffic, and there was apparently no reason why he should stay there. Piot came to Paris with the rest of the ambitious ones, and found out Cogniet, the good teacher who, besides winning a sterling reputation for himself, has helped so many young artists to a career. Piot may not have turned out one of those "brightest boys" who, as Swift says, are the master's joy, but he does his teacher no discredit at least, and among the minor poets of the brush he deserves a pleasant corner by himself. " ART & ARTISTS OF OUR TIME: VOL.II: Clarence Cook; c. 1905.