When one glances at the views of Prague and the little engravings of English and Scottish towns, it makes one wonder whether he ever travelled abroad, or if Choffard executed these vignettes from other artists’ drawings without stating so. From his “Notice sur l’art de la gravure,” which the draughtsman published a few years before his death, it would appear that he never crossed the Channel, or Choffard would have mentioned his personal experience, instead of giving that of friends, but it cannot be positively asserted that the artist never traversed the French frontier.
Ponce tells us that should some friend of Choffard’s evince difficulty in drawing any portion of a composition in perspective, or if the decoration of a plate proved troublesome and they chanced to ask his advice: “Bring me your work,” he would good naturedly say, “and leave it with me so that I may consider it at leisure.” The friend, on his return, could be positive of finding the difficulty overcome. And was Choffard often known to accept adequate, if any, remuneration for such work? We can draw our own conclusions, knowing his generous character.
His company was enjoyed and appreciated by the most illustrious contemporary painters and engravers, and Wille mentions meeting Choffard in company with de Launay, Lempereur, and Saint-Aubin on one occasion, and another day Choffard, Flipart, Chardin, Roslin, and Vien dined at the same table as Wille. Billiards was a pastime our artist much enjoyed, and on one occasion, when he and his intimate friend Basan and Bervic were staying with Miger at Bagneux, the host’s three guests stayed up all one Saturday night playing billiards. Miger amused himself by celebrating the incident in the following lines:
Basan, Bervic et vous, Choffard, qu’on croyait sage,
Voyez jusqu’où du jeu vous a porté la rage;
Autour de ce billard, du soir jus’qu’au matin,
L’Aurore en se levant, vous vit la queue en main;
Et tandis qu’à la messe on disait le symbole,
Chacun de vous, bâillant, disait: “Je carambole.”
If a sketching party were arranged, naturally the popular artist was included among its members. Little surprising is it that his popularity increased as steadily as his fame flourished, for this is the state in which an eye-witness describes him arriving at a friend’s country home, with “le petit pain en poche pour le dogue de la porte, les gimblettes pour le petit chien, les bonbons pour les enfants, les fleurs ou le flacon pour la maîtresse de la maison et le gros écu pour les doméstiques.” What artist’s means could stave such a flow of generosity? Is it because the giver always saw the bottom of his purse that his name appears as engraver of mechanical drawings such as those in Berthoud’s “Essai sur l’horlogerie,” and sometimes as the reproducer of brother artist's inferior designs? Yet another cause prevented the greatest “graveur de l’accessoire” from accumulating means—he loved art so passionately that no time, no remuneration, no trouble, no patience, and no difficulties were considered; his work’s success was Choffard’s only thought.