Sir Amédée Forestier (

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

1854 – 18 November 1930

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) was an Anglo-French artist and illustrator who specialised in historical and prehistoric scenes, and

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionar ...

Life and work

Forestier was born in

, France, and studied art under

Henri Lehmann Henri Lehmann (; 14 April 1814 – 30 March 1882) was a German-born French historical painter and portraitist. Life Born Heinrich Salem Lehmann in Kiel, in the Duchy of Holstein, he received his first art tuition from his father Leo Lehmann ( ...

at the

École des Beaux-arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. In 1882 he began working for the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

'', producing illustrations for news items and fictional stories. He also produced illustrations for the ''

Windsor Magazine ''The Windsor Magazine'' was a monthly illustrated publication produced by Ward Lock & Co from January 1895 to September 1939 (537 issues). The title page described it as "An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women". It was bound as six-monthly ...

'', for the novels of several authors including

Walter Besant Sir Walter Besant (14 August 1836 – 9 June 1901) was an English novelist and historian. William Henry Besant was his brother, and another brother, Frank, was the husband of Annie Besant. Early life and education The son of wine merchant Will ...

, and for various travel books by

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 18 ...

. Forestier became known for his historical illustrations, especially his carefully researched drawings of archaeological finds such as prehistoric man. His drawings are notable for their attention to detail, a consequence of the need to convey a lot of visual information, with little accompanying text, in the popular illustrated magazines of the day. In December 1911, a series of his drawings (accompanying text by

Arthur Bulleid Arthur Bulleid (1862–1951) was a British antiquarian, known for the excavation of Glastonbury Lake Village and Meare Lake Village. He was born in Glastonbury, the sixth son of John Bulleid, the mayor and founder of the Glastonbury Antiquarian ...

) was published in the ''

'', depicting scenes of everyday life in an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

village near present-day

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

- "

Glastonbury Lake Village Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, situated on a crannog or man made island in the Somerset Levels, near Godney, some north west of Glastonbury in the southwestern English county of Somerset. It has been designated as a schedul ...

". These scenes were widely reproduced and seen as influential in shaping public perceptions of

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

at the time. Forestier Nebraska Man 1922

Forestier also worked for the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

and the London Museum, producing illustrations of Roman Life, and later had an illustrated book published on the subject - "The Roman Soldier" (A & C Black, 1928). In 1922 his " Nebraska Man" drawings appeared in The Illustrated London News. These reconstructions, in collaboration with scientist Grafton Elliot Smith, were of a possible ape-like ancestor of present-day man, based on a fossil tooth found in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. However this drawing owed more to artistic imagination than scientific fact, and the find itself was scientifically insignificant.Creationist Arguments: Nebraska Man
Apart from his drawing, Forestier also painted in

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

. He died in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

, on 18 November 1930.

Books (selected)

Illustrated by Forestier: * Besant, Walter. ''The world went very well then''
Volume 1Volume 2Volume 3
(London: Chatto & Windus, 1887). *Cobb, James Francis (adp. from

Hendrik Conscience Henri (Hendrik) Conscience (3 December 1812 – 10 September 1883) was a Belgian author. He is considered the pioneer of Dutch-language literature in Flanders, writing at a time when Belgium was dominated by the French language among the upper cl ...

).
Off to California : a tale of the gold country
' (London: Wells Gardner, Darton, & Co., 1887). * Collins, Wilkie.
Blind Love
' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1890). *Stockton, Frank R.

' (Charles Scribner's sons, 1896). *Moore, Frank F.
The Jessamy Bride
' (Hutchinson, 1897) *Pain, Barry E. O. ''The romantic history of Robin Hood'' (Harper, 1898). *Drummond, Hamilton.
The seven houses: a romance
' (New York : F.A. Stokes, 1901) - frontispiece. * Pemberton, Sir Max.
I crown thee a king: A romance
' (Methuen & Co., 1902). *Omond, George W. T.
Bruges and West Flanders
' (A & C Black, 1906). *Omond, George W. T.
Belgium
' (A & C Black, 1908). *Omond, George W. T.
Liége and the Ardennes
' (A & C Black, 1908). *Omond, George W. T.
Belgium (Peeps at many lands)
' (A & C Black, 1909). *Ambler, Benjamin George. ''Alfred, Lord Tennyson: his homes and haunts'' (T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1911). * Bensusan, Samuel Levy. ''William Shakespeare, his homes and haunts'' (Dodge, 1912). *Bensusan, Samuel Levy. ''William Wordsworth, his homes and haunts'' (Dodge, 1912). * Baddeley, John F. ''Russia, Mongolia, China ....'' (Macmillan and Company, 1919). Written and illustrated by Forestier: *''The Roman Soldier: some illustrations representative of Roman military life with special reference to Britain'' (A & C Black, 1928)

Notes

External links

* *
Amédée Forestier on ArtnetIllustrations from ''The romantic history of Robin Hood''
(

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

Camelot project) {{DEFAULTSORT:Forestier, Amedee 1854 births 1930 deaths Painters from Paris 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French illustrators Landscape artists French watercolourists Paleoartists 19th-century French male artists

Life and work

Books (selected)

Notes

Further reading

External links