II

The youngest Prix de Rome

In November 1964 he was admitted to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the studio of the painter Maurice Brianchon.

Barely eight months later, in July 1965, he won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome at the age of nineteen. He was the youngest winner of the competition, and his success caused a genuine stir.

The prize opened the doors of the French Academy in Rome, at the Villa Medici.