Eugène Lemercier (7 November 1886 – 6 April 1915) was a French artist and soldier in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. His letters to his mother are a first-hand account of the war, and are preserved in the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ) is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is "To collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the ...

. He is believed to be the subject of

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

' poem " The Death of a Soldier."

Early life and artistic career

Eugène Emmanuel Lemercier was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 7 November 1886. He was the son of Marguerite O’Hagan and Eugène-Augustin Lemercier. His grandmother was the Irish portrait artist

Harriet Osborne O'Hagan Harriet Osborne O'Hagan (1830–1921) was an Irish portrait artist. Life Harriet Osborne was born in Dublin in 1830. She initially studied with George Sharp RHA. At least one Dublin address can be discerned from her exhibited works, 195 Great B ...

, and his mother was also an artist. His father died before Lemercier was born. Lemercier entered the

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

at age fifteen. He left the École in 1906 to join the army to complete his military service. Lemercier won a number of government prizes for his paintings between 1906 and 1914, for pieces such as ''La Contemplation'' (Study for 'Contemplation'), which is held by the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

. He began a new work, when he was drafted into the army after the outbreak of World War I.

Military career and writing

Lemercier's military service began in 1906 when he joined the 106th Regiment of infantry in Chalons-sur-Marne. As Lemercier was enrolled in higher education, his service was just one year. After his drafting back into the army in August 1914, he wrote to his mother almost every day from 4 August 1914 until 6 April 1915. He also wrote to his grandmother, and to a circle of friends. During September and October, Lemercier was in what he called "the zone of the horrors", during which time he received no correspondence and he wrote in his diary. His writings are held by the

(NLI), as a first-hand testimony of the war. He disappeared, presumed dead, during the Battle of

Les Éparges Les Éparges () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. A ridge to the east of the village was the site of a fierce battle during World War I, and there are many memorials and monuments in the area. See als ...

in April 1915. The collection in the NLI consists of 263 letters and postcards, two journals and photographs, as well as letters from his mother about his correspondence and artworks. The letters were published as ''Lettres d'un soldat : août 1914-avril 1915''.

References

External links

Details of his correspondence in French
* * Letters of a Soldier, 1914-1915, a collection of his correspondence, free on

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemercier, Eugene 1886 births 1915 deaths Artists from Paris French military personnel killed in World War I