Mihail Simonidi
Mihail Simonidi or, in French, Michel Simonidy (8 March 1870, Bucharest - 1933, Paris) was a Romanian painter, designer and decorator of Greek ancestry who worked in the Art Nouveau style. Biography. He came from a Greek family that had settled in Muntenia and was originally named Menelas Simonides. In Paris, he was a pupil of Léon Bonnat and Gabriel Ferrier and was best-known for his genre scenes and nudes. He received an honorable mention at the Exposition Universelle (1889). His "Death of Mithridates" also won a medal at the Salon, where he exhibited from 1908 to 1912 . As did most of those who worked in the Art Nouveau style, he designed numerous posters, including advertising for Braun-Clément & Cie. (photographers) and "Le Figaro" as well as one for a performance of "Théodora" by Victorien Sardou, starring Sarah Bernhardt. He occasionally collaborated with Jean de Paleologu (known as "Pal"). He returned to Romania intermittently to do interiors. His best-known work involved decorations for the Hall of Honor and the ceiling of the boardroom at the CEC Palace, designed by the French architect, . The ceiling depicts Fortuna and the Romanians following the War of Independence. A study for  the mural won a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle (1900). His portraits of King Carol I and Queen Elisabeth were destroyed by the Communist régime. In 2004, the contents of his studio were auctioned off at the Hôtel Drouot.