Léon Benett (born Hippolyte Léon Benet; 1839–1916) was a French painter and illustrator. He was born in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. He changed his name to "Léon Benett" to differentiate his career in the French administration from his work as a draftsman. Benett is the most important illustrator of books written by Jules Verne; between 1873 and 1910 he illustrated twenty-five novels from the

Voyages Extraordinaires The ''Voyages extraordinaires'' (; ) is a Collection (publishing), collection or novel sequence, sequence of novels and short story, short stories by the French writer Jules Verne. Fifty-four of these novels were originally published between 1 ...

series. He also illustrated other books by Verne. He also illustrated works of

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 ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Thomas Mayne Reid Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was an Irish-American novelist, who fought in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave ...

, André Laurie,

Camille Flammarion Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fic ...

, and others. Benett's illustrations often depict exotic countries, arising from his real experiences as a government employee in which he visited

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

, and New Caledonia. He died in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

on 7 December 1916.

Bibliography

* Fr. Benet, M.-A. Benet, P. Benet, P. Martin, R. Pesle, V. Sper Benet, ''Léon Benett illustrateur: Lettres et dessins inédits'', A la frontière, 2011, , www.leonbenett.fr * Federico Ferretti, 2012
Elisée Reclus, lettres de prison et d'exil
', Lardy, A la frontière.

External links

* * * 1838 births 1916 deaths People from Orange, Vaucluse French illustrators 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Jules Verne {{France-artist-stub