Bertall [(Charles-)Albert, Vicomte d’Arnoux, Comte de
Limoges-Saint-Saens]
(b Paris, 18 Dec 1820; d Paris, Feb 1882). French printmaker. On the
suggestion of Honoré de Balzac, he used an approximate anagram of
his first name Albert—Bertall—as his artistic pseudonym. He studied
painting under Michel-Martin Drolling but soon began working as an
illustrator and caricaturist, a move probably influenced by Balzac.
His first published work was the humorous Les Omnibus,
pérégrinations burlesques à travers tous chemins (Paris, 1843) for
which he produced both text and woodcuts. Two years later he
provided illustrations for Balzac’s Petites misères de la vie
conjugale (Paris, 1845) and from 1842 to 1855 he collaborated on
illustrating the Oeuvres complètes de Balzac (Paris, 1842–55, 20
vols).
La Comedie de notre temps : etudes au crayon et
a la plume, Plon,
Paris
Discuss Art
Please note: site admin does not answer any questions. This is our readers discussion only.
