Léopold Flameng (22 November 1831 – 5 September 1911) was a French engraver, illustrator and painter.
Biography He was born in Brussels. His parents were from France, and he began his artistic studies in Paris with Luigi Calamatta and Jean Gigoux. His engraving skills were noticed by Charles Blanc, and his collaboration with his fellow engraver, Léon Gaucherel, in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts and L'Artiste, helped to ensure his reputation.Figaro , 5 September 1911, page 3/6, @ the BnF. He eventually provided over one hundred illustrations.
In 1858, he was involved in an unfortunate incident when the artist Charles Meryon, who was suffering from a mental illness, attempted to tear up Flameng's recently completed portrait of him." Une semaine en ballon : léger aérostat, ô divine espérance…", @ L'œil des chats. Shortly after, Meryon entered a hospital. Flameng paid a visit to him there and made some sketches.
Known for his etchings of works by Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Ingres and Delacroix, he illustrated several books on Paris and numerous literary works of classical and contemporary authors, including Boccaccio, Paul Scarron, Victor Hugo and François Coppée. He was also the illustrator for the 1868 Revised edition of Picciola by X. B. Saintine, published after his death in 1865.
He was a medallist at the Exposition Universelle of 1878. By 1882, he had become a noted art collector. From 1884, he was also a member of "Le Parnasse-Club"Auguste Lepage, "Les dîners artistiques et littéraires de Paris", series: Bibliothèque des deux mondes, Klein et Cie., 1884 (Online) @ Archive and later joined the Société d'aquarellistes français. He was named an Officer in the Legion of Honor in 1894.Dossier Léonore : , @ the Ministère de la Culture and elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1898.
His numerous students included Richard Geiger, Auguste Laguillermie, and Paul Adolphe Rajon, as well as his son, François.
Flameng died in 1911 in Courgent.
Gallery
References
Further reading Alexandre Page, Sculpsit et delineavit: Léopold Flameng (1831-1911) ou le métier de « graveur-illustrateur » dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, doctoral thesis, université Clermont-Auvergne. (Online) @ Theses
External links
Images of works by Flameng in the New York Public Library Léopold Flameng at Artcyclopedia Léopold Flameng at the Réunion des musées nationaux. Léopold Flameng at the Base Joconde.