1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bracquemond, Félix

BRACQUEMOND, FÉLIX (1833–  ), French painter and etcher, was born in Paris. He was trained in early youth as a trade lithographer, until Guichard, a pupil of Ingres, took him to his studio. His portrait of his grandmother, painted by him at the age of nineteen, attracted Théophile Gautier’s attention at the Salon. He applied himself to engraving and etching about 1853, and played a leading and brilliant part in the revival of the etcher’s art in France. Altogether he has produced over eight hundred plates, comprising portraits, landscapes, scenes of contemporary life, and bird-studies, besides numerous interpretations of other artists’ paintings, especially those of Meissonier, Gustave Moreau and Corot. After having been attached to the Sèvres porcelain factory in 1870, he accepted a post as art manager of the Paris atelier of the firm of Haviland of Limoges. He was connected by a link of firm friendship with Manet, Whistler, and all the other fighters in the impressionist cause, and received all the honours that await the successful artist in France, including the grade of officer of the Legion of Honour in 1889.