Léon Benett (born Hippolyte Léon Benet; 1839–1916) was a French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. 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 France–Italy border, Italian border ...

. 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 Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraord ...

; between 1873 and 1910 he illustrated twenty-five novels from the

Voyages Extraordinaires The ''Voyages extraordinaires'' (; ) is a collection or sequence of novels and short stories by the French writer Jules Verne. Fifty-four of these novels were originally published between 1863 and 1905, during the author's lifetime, and eig ...

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,

André Laurie Jean François Paschal Grousset (7 April 1844, in Corte – 9 April 1909, in Paris) was a French politician, journalist, translatorHe was the first to translate Treasure Island into French in 1885 (''L'île au trésor'', éd. Hetzel) and scienc ...

Camille Flammarion Nicolas Camille Flammarion Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, 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 astrono ...

, 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 , religi ...

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 language, Kalinago: or ) is an island and an Overseas department and region, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of ...

, 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 the ...

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