Charles Monnet, also known as Charles Monet (10 January 1732 – after 1808), was a French painter and illustrator, best known for his illustrations used in books, including illustrations of the French Revolution.

Life

Born in Paris, he studied under

Jean II Restout Jean Restout the Younger (26 March 16921 January 1768) was a French artist, who worked in painting and drawing. Although little remembered today, Restout was well-respected by his contemporaries for his religious compositions. Biography Restout w ...

. Although he never became a full academian, on July 27, 1765 he was made a provisional member of the

Académie Royale An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...

, where he won first prize for the painting, ''Nabucliodonosor faisant crever les yeux à Sédicias et faisant massacrer ses enfants''. His works in the mid 1760s and 1770s included portraits and religious and mythical scenes. He became "one of the best vignettists of his time" and well-known for his work as an illustrator, notably for an edition of ''Fables de La Fontaine'' published by Fessard. He completed two large compositions above the doors of the dining room in the

Petit Trianon The Petit Trianon (; French for 'small Trianon') is a Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, France. It was built between 1762 and 1768 ...

at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, ''Boreas and Orithyia'' and ''Zéphir and Flore'', completed in 1768. His illustrations have been used for porcelain vases. Painted in polychrome enamels by highly skilled artisans using a method of

garniture A garniture is a number or collection of any matching, but usually not identical, decorative objects intended to be displayed together. Frequently made of metal, ormolu, often with gilded wood stands, porcelain (both European and Asian), garnitu ...

, several were purchased for Versailles by King

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

in 1781. Monnet made fifteen illustrations of the French Revolution, named ''Main Days of the Revolution'', which were engraved by Isidore-Stanislas Helman and published in a volume in 1798. The illustrations were also turned into etchings by Antoinne-Jean Duclos and Jean Duplessis-Bertaux. Engravings were made of 153 of his illustrations for ''Abrege de l’Histoire universelle en figures, dessinees et gravees par les meilleurs artistes de la capitale'', which was published in 1790. He also illustrated scenes from the history of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

and (with

Jean-Michel Moreau Jean-Michel Moreau (26 March 1741 – 30 November 1814), also called Moreau le Jeune ("the younger"), was a French draughtsman, illustrator and engraver. Biography Moreau le Jeune, as he is usually called, was born in Paris. He was the pupil of ...

, Clément-Pierre Marillier and Pietro Antonio Martini);

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

's ''Romans et contes'' of 1778; and

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (; 18 October 1741 – 5 September 1803) was a French novelist, official, Freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel '' Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (''Dangerous Liaisons ...

's ''

Les Liaisons dangereuses ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (; English: ''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu on March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise Isabelle de Merteu ...

'' in its 1796 London edition. He exhibited regularly at the Salon and ended his career as a drawing professor at the military

École de Saint-Cyr École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. He died in Paris, where he was living in 1808. His works are in the collections of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

, and

Château de Malmaison The Château de Malmaison () is a French château situated near the left bank of the Seine, about west of the centre of Paris, in the commune of Rueil-Malmaison. Formerly the residence of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, along with the Tui ...

Gallery

File:Monnet Telemachus and Mentor.jpg, ''Monnet Telemachus and Mentor'', 1774 File:Prince de Lambesc.jpg, ''Charles Eugéne, Prince de Lambesc in parade attire of Grand Écuyer de France'', 1790 File:1802_Toussaint_Louverture_re%C3%A7oit_une_lettre_de_Napol%C3%A9on.jpg, ''Toussaint Louverture Receiving a Letter from the First Consul'', black ink and wash, 1802,

. It is one of his 69 drawings illustrating the ''History of France under the Empire of Napoleon the Great.''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monnet, Charles 1732 births 1800s deaths 18th-century French painters French illustrators Painters from Paris 19th-century French painters