The Gilded Lens of the Belle Époque To step into a canvas by Jean-Georges Béraud is to be transported to the heart of a Paris that breathed with an incomparable elegance and restless energy. Born in 1849, the artist—originally known as Séverin Louis Stein—was a child of transition, coming of age during a period when the city was being physically and culturally reimagined. While some historical accounts trace his earliest beginnings to Saint Petersburg, where his father worked as a sculptor, it was the vibrant, cobblestone streets of Paris that ultimately shaped his soul and his brush. His ea…