Portrait of François Viète
Charles Meryon
1861
Medium
Etching with faint burnishing and scraping on grayish ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 18.3 × 9 cm (7 1/4 × 3 9/16 in.); Sheet: 19.2 × 10.1 cm (7 9/16 × 4 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
106696
About the Artist
Charles Meryon · 1821–1868
Charles Meryon, born on November 23, 1821, in Paris, was the illegitimate son of English physician Dr. Charles Lewis Meryon and dancer Pierre-Narcisse Chaspoux (stage name Narcisse Gentil) at the Paris Opéra. His half-sister Fanny, from his mother's prior relationship with Viscount Lowther, remained in contact after their mother's death in 1838. Raised partly outside Paris before attending Pension...