Fortuné Louis Méaulle (11 April 1844,

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

– 11 May 1916)"On annonce la mort de : M. Fortuné Méaulle, le dessinateur bien connu qui illustra notamment les pauvres de Victor-Hugo." i
Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, 15 May 1916
(in French) was a French

wood-engraver Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and pr ...

and writer.

Biography

He apprenticed with Joseph Burn-Smeeton (fl.1840-1880), a British-born artist who worked with the French wood-engraver Auguste Tilly (1840–1898). Later, he was able to become part of a small, exclusive group of wood-engravers who worked for

Louis Hachette Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

; consisting of , Henri Théophile Hildibrand and

Charles Barbant Charles Barbant (15 July 1844, Paris - 10 May 1921, Paris) was a French wood engraver and illustrator. Biography His father was the engraver, Nicolas Barbant (1806-1879), from whom he received his first lessons. After having worked for the e ...

. He did not remain there long, however; being dismissed for "serious misconduct". He then established his own studio and was one of the first artists to work with Daniel Vierge. Among his most notable illustrations are those made from pen and ink drawings by

François Chifflart François-Nicolas Chifflart (21 March 1825 – 19 March 1901) was a French painter, illustrator and etcher. Biography He was born in Saint-Omer. His father was a locksmith who was also known for his skill as a carver and worked for Louis Fiole ...

for '' The Toilers of the Sea'' by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, although Hugo had originally wanted them to be brush wash drawings, concerned that the resultant wood-engravings would not match the spirit of his writing. After seeing samples, he was convinced and changed his mind. The output of Méaulle's studio was large, but of an uneven quality. The bulk of his work involved covers for the illustrated supplement to '' Le Petit Journal'', most of them designed by Henri Meyer. He also produced large double-paged supplements and worked for the French newspapers '' Le Journal Illustré'' and ''

Le Monde Illustré ''Le Monde illustré'' (title translation: ''The Illustrated World'') was a leading illustrated news magazine in France which was published from 1857–1940 and again from 1945 to 1956. It was in many ways similar to its contemporary English ...

''. As a writer, he published books on art, children's books and

juvenile fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

, some illustrated by other artists.

Gallery

File:Les Travailleurs de la Mer (Chifflart).jpg, ''The Toilers of the Sea'' (illustration) File:Croquet.jpg, Croquet, 1889 File:Bullfight incident, Arles.jpg, Bloody in

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

, 1898 File:Banquet des maires 1900.jpg, The Mayors' Banquet, 1900

Selected works

* ''Messieurs et Mesdemoiselles Bébé, carnets d’un papa'', Ducrocq, 1887 * ''Le Robinson des Airs'' (an

imaginary voyage ''Imaginary Voyage'' is a studio album by French jazz fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty. It features guitarist Daryl Stuermer and bassist Tom Fowler (musician), Tom Fowler (both of whom had played on Ponty’s previous album), along with keyboardist A ...

), Ducrocq, 1889 * ''Délaissée'', A. Mame et fils, 1898 * ''Victor Hugo, 1802–1902, ouvrage pour la jeunesse'', Société Française d'Éditions d'Art, 1902

References

External links

Fortuné Méaulle
Sources and references @ Data.bnf.fr * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meaulle, Fortunate 1844 births 1916 deaths 19th-century French male writers French wood engravers People from Angers

Biography

Gallery

Selected works

Further reading

References

External links