19th-20th Century French

Born on 6 May 1864 in the French town of Marmande, from a very young age Boyé showed great skill in drawing and created his earliest portraits as a completely self-taught artist. In 1881 he began his formal training at the École supérieure des beaux-arts in Bordeaux. Quickly acknowledging his natural talent, his teachers encouraged him to further his studies in Paris. And so, in 1883, he enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, where he was a student of the painter and engraver Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (1845-1902).

From 1885 right up until his death he exhibited regularly at the salon of the , and he eventually sat on its jury. He took part in many exhibitions around France, and obtained countless private commissions, acquiring great prestige as an academic artist specialized in portraits and genre scenes. In fact, his works can be seen as prime examples of the taste of the time, with a particular mention for his female portraits, in which he rendered to perfection the signature elegance and refinement of fin de siècle women.

In 1930 he was appointed officer of the in recognition of his life’s work. He died on 21 July 1933 in Levallois-Perret at the age of sixty-nine.