Léonce Bénédite

Léonce Bénédite (14 January 1859 – 12 May 1925) was a French art historian and curator. He was a co-founder of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français (Society for French Orientalist Painters) and was instrumental in establishing Orientalist art as a legitimate genre.

He was the assistant curator at the Chateau de Versailles between 1882 and 1886; the assistant curator at the Chateau de Versailles between 1886; and from 1886 he was the first assistant director at Étienne Arago at the Musée du Luxembourg until 1892 when he became the director. For Bénédite, writing was inseparable from his function as curator. He was a prolific writer, contributing to books, catalogs and art journals.

Bénédite was one of the executors of Auguste Rodin's will, with responsibility for managing Rodin's artistic heritage. He was a key figure in establishing the Rodin Museum at the Hôtel Biron in 1919 and became the museum's first curator.