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Jean de Paleologue (1860-1942) by Chris Cloutier The Rumanian-born artist worked under the name Julius Price in England then later going on to Paris and assuming the name of Pal, created thousands of illustrations and over one hundred posters in the period of 1893 to 1900, many of which present a classical nude woman, presenting the product. He was also the only designer at the time, except Cheret, who understood the technique of lithography. Pal mastered the medium of the stone to the point where he could achieve effects of light and shadow making lithography seem like Oil painting by the Old masters. He must have been a very colorful figure; In an interview in a Miami paper just before his death in 1942, he is described as "Prince Paleologue, a direct descendant of the last Christian emperor of Byzantine. His ancestor, Emperor Constantine XII, died on the ramparts of Byzantine fighting the invading Turks in the year 1453 A.D." He apparently came to the United States with Sarah Bernhardt in 1900, settled in New York, working as a portrait painter, illustrator, and cartoon animator. He became a U.S. citizen in 1923 and lived the last two years of his life in Miami, Florida.
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