Portrait of Jean Besly, Historian
Charles Meryon
1861
Medium
Etching on grayish ivory laid chine
Dimensions
Image: 11.2 × 8.9 cm (4 7/16 × 3 9/16 in.); Plate: 14.5 × 12.1 cm (5 3/4 × 4 13/16 in.); Sheet: 16.6 × 13.5 cm (6 9/16 × 5 3/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
63615
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...