Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel

Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel is probably one of the most important non-English illustrators of the late 19th century. Like so many others, he began his career as a painter. Encouraged by his parents, he left his native Orléans to study at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. One of his teachers became the famous salon and oriental painter Gustav Boulanger. And so it is not surprising that the young Louis-Maurice left for a study trip to Algeria after completing his education. The encounter with the exoticism and especially the light of North Africa was to have a lasting influence on his work. Blue and strong orange became his "signature colors".

Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel received much recognition for his early paintings - also in the form of numerous medals and awards. Exhibitions and first purchases by collectors followed. Things could have continued like this for the aspiring painter. But life had other plans for him. When he married in 1876 and soon after had his first son, he had to look for a more reliable, steady source of income and became an illustrator. A stroke of luck for the then flourishing industry. Soon Boutet de Monvel was one of the best "Art Nouveau" illustrators, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway. His works for children's books were particularly in demand. Here he set standards with his illustrations. The book "Jean d'Arc", published in 1895, is considered his masterpiece. It tells the saint's story of the Virgin of Orleans for a very young audience. Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel not only drew the illustrations for it, but also wrote the text - although not a historian or author. He succeeded so well that the work was translated into other languages and reprinted several times.

The book was also to bring him further commissions as a painter. For example, six paintings by his hand, depicting the various stages in the short life of St. Joan, hang today on the first floor of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The cycle begins with "The Vision and Inspiration": it shows the young Joan kneeling in the midst of a flock of sheep while listening to the Annunciation of the Archangel Michael. The other paintings continue the legend figuratively. The series concludes with "The Trial of Joan of Arc," depicting the trial of Joan, who is known to have been executed.

The artist died in 1913, and his works have been reproduced around the world ever since. But Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel left his mark on art history not only through his work. He also fathered a son who also became an artist: Bertrand Boutet de Monvel. He was considered a bon vivant and the epitome of the dandy, a portraitist of the Parisian chic and a gifted fashion illustrator. The famous son died in a plane crash in 1949. In 2016, Sotheby's in Paris auctioned off his estate - including a family collection. Among the 300 exhibits were his own paintings and self-designed furniture as well as pictures by the hand of his father Louis-Maurice, which reached considerable hammer prices.

Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel

Caricatures, Comics

Wikipedia: Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel

Artworks by Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel

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37 artworks found