Charles Meryon

Charles Meryon , 1821-68, French etcher. His short life was saddened by poverty and neglect and complicated by recurring forms of mental aberration. Prevented by color blindness from painting, he became an etcher and evolved an incomparable technique. Reflecting the romanticism of the period, he depicted architectural settings with great structural clarity, often inserting grotesque or enigmatic figures. His fame rests largely on his poetic series of 22 etchings of old sections of Paris, Eaux-Fortes sur Paris (1850-54). Meryon died insane at 47.

Bibliography: See studies by L. Delteil (1928) and C. Dodgson (1931).

Meryon, Charles (b Paris, 23 Nov. 1821; d Charenton, nr. Paris, 14 Feb. 1868). French etcher, the illegitimate son of an English doctor and a French dancer. After serving in the navy for several years, he took up painting in 1848, but he soon discovered he was colour blind and turned instead to etching. In the early 1850s he produced a series of views of Paris that are his most famous works. They feature a good deal of precise architectural detail, but they are remarkable more for their intense, sometimes sinister atmosphere than for their topographical qualities. Meryon had an extremely unhappy life, suffering from melancholia and a persecution complex, and in 1858–9 he was confined to an asylum at Charenton. After his release his work became looser and more subjective, culminating in The Ministry of the Marine (1865), which features flying Bosch-like demons. In 1866 he was readmitted to the Charenton asylum and died there insane. During his lifetime he had some distinguished admirers, notably Baudelaire, but in general his work was little appreciated. Now, however, he is recognized as a central figure in the revival of etching as a creative art form.