Philibert-Louis Debucourt, (13 February 1755 – 22 September 1832) was a French painter and engraver.

Life

Debucourt, was born in Paris in 1755, and became a pupil of Vien. He executed a few plates in

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonal ...

, such as the ''Heureuse famille'', the ''Benediction de la mariée'', and the ''Cruche cassée'', after his own designs. Most of his work was, however, in

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used h ...

. He became the leading maker of multi-plate colour prints, combining washes of aquatint with line-engraving. He used a number of different techniques, but most involved three colour plates, and a fourth key plate, outlining the design in black. Debucourt's father-in-law was the sculptor

Louis-Philippe Mouchy Louis-Philippe Mouchy (31 March 1734 – 10 December 1801) was a French sculptor. Early years Louis-Philippe Mouchy was born in 1734. He was a student of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, and married Pigalle's niece. Mouchy followed Pigalle's style closely ...

. In the marriage contract Mouchy generously offered to provide a three-room apartment at the Louvre, where Debucourt lived for twelve and a half years. The address of this apartment is often given on his prints. Some of his work was satirical, such as ''La promenade publique'', an aquatint of 1792 showing a crowd in the gardens the Palais-Royal. As well as work from his own designs, he made aquatints after

Carle Vernet Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, better known as Carle Vernet (14 August 175827 November 1836), was a French painter, the youngest child of Claude Joseph Vernet and the father of Horace Vernet. Biography Vernet was born in Bordeaux. At the age o ...

, including the ''Horse Frightened by a Lion'', the ''Horse Frightened by Lightning'' and the ''Strayed Huntsman''. Debucourt was assisted for some years by his pupil and nephew, Jean-Pierre-Marie Jazet. He died at Belleville in 1832.

References

Sources

External links

Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Philibert-Louis Debucourt (see index)
Prints by Debourcourt in the British Museum
18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters French engravers Painters from Paris 1755 births 1832 deaths 18th-century engravers 19th-century engravers 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists {{France-artist-stub