Étienne Marin Mélingue (1807–1875) was a French actor,

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and painter. He was born in Caen, the son of a volunteer of 1792, He early went to Paris and obtained work as a sculptor on the

church of the Madeleine , other name = , native_name = , native_name_lang = French , image = Madeleine Paris.jpg , landscape = , imagesize = , caption = , imagelink ...

, but his passion for the stage soon led him to join a strolling company of comedians. Finally chance gave him an opportunity to show his talents, and at the Porte Saint Martin he became the popular interpreter of romantic drama of the type popularized by Alexandre Dumas, père. One of his greatest successes was as Benvenuto Cellini, in which he displayed his ability both as an actor and as a sculptor, really modelling before the eyes of the audience a statue of Hebe. He sent a number of statuettes to the various exhibitions, notably one of

Gilbert Louis Duprez Gilbert-Louis Duprez (6 December 180623 September 1896) was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest (''Ut de poitrine'', as Paris audiences called it). He also ...

William Tell William Tell (german: Wilhelm Tell, ; french: Guillaume Tell; it, Guglielmo Tell; rm, Guglielm Tell) is a folk hero of Switzerland. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albr ...

. Mélingue's wife, Théodorine Thiesset (1813–1886), was the actress selected by

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 ...

to create the part of Guanhumara in

Burgraves Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especial ...

at the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

, where she remained ten years. He created the part of D'Artagnan in ''The Youth of The Musketeers'' and ''The Musketeer'' (a dramatization of ''20 Years After'' by Dumas) and also the part of Lagardere in Feval and Anciet-Bourgeois's ''Hunchback''.See character lists for these plays. For Dumas his ''Complete Works''; for Le Bossu ''Librairie de Michel Levy Freres'' (1862).

References

External links and reference

* * Dumas, ''Une Vie d'artiste; Aventures et tribulations d'un comédien'' (1854).
Étienne Mélingue caricature
1808 births 1875 deaths Artists from Caen French male stage actors 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 19th-century French male actors 19th-century French male artists Actors from Caen {{france-stage-actor-stub