PEN DRAWING BY JACQUEMART.
BY RAFFAËLLI. PEN DRAWING. FROM “PARIS ILLUSTRÉ.”
BY BOUTET DE MONVEL. PEN DRAWING FROM “JEANNE D’ARC” (PARIS, PLON).
BY H. IBELS. FROM “L’ART DU RIRE ET CARICATURE.”
But less mystical, and, possibly, even more beautifully drawn, are some of Luc Ollivier Merson's designs, notably those for Victor Hugo's works: a charming series of drawings, etched, I think, by Lalauze—to the national edition of Hugo almost every French painter has contributed—and the more mystic but less accomplished Séon is another of the same group; while the latest and most advanced are the Vebers. The list of really clever men is long. Marchetti and Tofani, Italians, whose work, continually seen in the supplements to "L'Illustration," is engraved with the greatest charm and distinction; Raffaëlli, who, though he draws but little now, has decorated during the last fifteen years some of the most notable French books. Giacomelli, Riou, Bayard, Haennen, Adrian Marie,[18] Metivet, who are willing, at a moment's notice, to make you a drawing, often distinguished, of any subject, no matter whether they have seen it or not, though Giacomelli is best known for his renderings of birds and flowers, often very charming; Habert Dys and Felix Régamey, who have adapted the methods of Japan to their own needs; Paul Renouard whose work is, as it should be, appreciated in England, and who has the distinction, when any important event is coming off in this country, to be commissioned by the "Graphic" to cross the Channel and "do" it; Boutet de Monvel, whose books for children have gained him a world-wide reputation; the long list of delineators of character, costume, and caricature who weekly fill the lighter papers: Ibels, the decadent of decadents, Caran d'Ache, Willette, Steinlein, Mars, Legrand, Forain, Job, Guillaume, and Courboin, whose work can be seen more or less badly reproduced every week in the comic papers to which they contribute. Caran d'Ache has made himself, one might almost predict, a lasting reputation with his "Courses dans l'Antiquité," his "Carnet de Chèques," and his various other "Albums." A. Willette, when not playing at politics, is seriously working at his adventures of Pierrot. Steinlein, in his illustrations to Bruant's "Dans la Rue," probably did as much as the author to make known the life of Batignolles. Mars rules the fashions of the provinces, while if one were to take Forain's Albums as absolutely typical of French morals, France certainly would seem the most distressful country on the face of the earth. To Grasset and Chéret, Lautrec and Auriol have fallen the task of looking after the so-called decorative part of French work. But the fact that not only these men will do you a poster, a cover design, a head, or a tail-piece, but that almost all others will too, is a positive proof that decoration cannot be separated from illustration, and also that all true artists are decorators.