Following my earlier long series on the paintings of Pierre Bonnard, and a brief look at those of Ker-Xavier Roussel, I seem to have accidentally started to look at the Nabis. Continuing this trend, this article and the next provide a short account of Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940), known to the group as Le Nabi Zouave.

Vuillard was born in 1868, in the town of Cuiseaux in eastern France, close to the border with Switzerland. His father was a retired Captain in the Army, which may have partly inspired his nickname. The Zouaves were crack infantry regiments first raised in North Africa, and before choosing to be an artist, Vuillard turned down a military career.

When he was ten years old, Vuillard and his family moved to Paris, and his father died six years later. His education was then funded by scholarship to the Lycée Condorcet, where he made…