Henri Théophile Hildibrand

Basque Peasant; from L'Espagne by Jean Charles Davillier

Miners in Belgium, adoring a statue of Santa Barbara; from L’illustrazione popolare

Henri Théophile Hildibrand (19 June 1824, Paris - 13 August 1897, Pacy-sur-Eure)^[1] was a French wood engraver; primarily for the firms of Hetzel and Hachette.

Life and work[]

He studied engraving at the "Atelier ABL",^[2] founded in 1832 by Jean Best (1808-1879), Isidore Leloir (born c.1803) and the English engraver, John Andrew, to create vignettes for the .

In the early part of his career, he was an associate of  [fr]. At that time, he became one of the best known engravers of the works of Gustave Doré and a master of colored engraving.

In 1845, he was one of a group of engravers that composed over 200 illustrations for "Mysteries of the Inquisition, and other secret societies of Spain" by "Victor De Féréal" (a pseudonym). Published by Boizard, it became a great success and a bit of a scandal.

He also worked with the publishing firm of Hetzel; notably on illustrations for the novels of Jules Verne. Together with  [fr], Charles Barbant and, for a time, Fortuné Méaulle, he worked with Hachette on their  [fr] series for young readers.

Some of his works also appeared in periodicals, such as Le Tour du monde, where many of his engravings were inspired by photographs; notably those of Émile Gsell.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs & graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays ; Vol. 2 ; Emmanuel Bénézit ; 1924 page 612.
• Rémi Blachon, La Gravure sur bois au XIXe siècle, Paris, Les éditions de l'amateur, 2001. ISBN 978-2-85917-332-6

External links[]

Media related to Henri Theophile Hildibrand at Wikimedia Commons