Identity:

Léopold Flameng was a painter, engraver and copyist, born of French parents. His son François (1856-1923) was a painter and draughtsman, and a pupil of his father.

Life:

Flameng was a student of Calamatta and Gigoux. He won medals at the Salon in 1864, 1866 and 1867, and at the International Exhibition in 1878. He was awarded the chevalier cross of the Légion d'honneur in 1870, the Médaille d'honneur in 1886, the grand prix in 1900 and was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1894. He collaborated with Charles Blanc in a series of engravings for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts that made his reputation as an engraver. He made etchings after works by artists such as Delacroix, Ingres, Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt. In an 1863 review of the exhibition Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts at Louis Martinet's gallery on the Boulevard des Italiens, the newspaper Le Figaro praised the etchings of Flameng and JW on display as showing 'rare merit' (#01082). Walter Dowdeswell described the etchings of these two men as among the foremost in the revival of the medium (#08699).

Bibliography:

Bénézit, E., Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, 8 vols, Paris, 1956-61; De Hureaux, A. Daguerre, 'François Flameng', The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy, http://www.groveart.com (accessed 22 February 2002).