Louis-Maurice Boutet De Monvel

Place: Orléans

Born: 1850

Death: 1913

Biography:

Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel (18 October 1850 – 16 March 1913) was a French painter and illustrator best known for his watercolours for children's books. He was a major figure in nineteenth-century children's book illustration.

Boutet de Monvel was a prominent figure in 19th-century children's book illustration. In 1876, he married Jeanne Labaigue and they soon became parents to two sons; Roger, a writer, and Bernard, a painter. To support his family, he ventured into commercial illustration. By 1881, he began illustrating children's books and contributed to the magazine, St. Nicholas.

His magnum opus came in 1895 with an illustrated children's history of Joan of Arc. Its illustrations were influenced by late-medieval painters Fra Angelico and Paolo Uccello. Despite his reservations about the zincotype reproduction method, critics lauded his work for its nobility, grandeur, and its reflection of popular Japanese prints of his time.

Joan of Arc garnered him international acclaim. In 1899, his art was showcased at major U.S. venues like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. However, a trip to Chicago saw him suffer a relapse of a bronchial condition he acquired during the Franco-Prussian war.

His brilliance was again recognized at the World's Fair of 1900, where he won a gold medal for his panel "Joan at the Court of Chinon". This was intended as part of a five-panel set, but only one other was completed for a U.S. senator, later donated to the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Sadly, he passed away in 1913 in Nemours. Posthumously, his legacy lived on with various retrospectives, including a major U.S. tour in 1987-88. Museums also house his works.

Boutet de Monvel remains a revered figure in children's illustration. Celebrated for his unique style that eliminates needless detail, he offers vivid pictorial representations even when the written content may be lacking. He stands tall among 19th-century illustrators like Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldecott.