DOI Heft:
Nr. 144 (March 1905)
DOI Artikel:Frantz, Henri: A forgotten artist: Constantin Guys
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20711#0125
Constantin Guys
Nadar, the last survivor of
Guys' friends, are succinct
enough. We find that at
twenty he served in the
cavalry. Hence his pro-
found knowledge of the
horse and its rider, of
which his works show so
many signs. Guys stayed
but a short time in the
Army. He toured in Greece
in the train of Lord Byron.
Not till he was about
forty years of age, it
would seem, did Guys, his
memory well stored with
visions of all sorts, begin
to draw and put on paper,
in light rapid sketches
"la promenade au bois" by constantin guys extraordinarily full of life,
the sights that struck his
eyes. In all kinds of
and Baudelaire's prophetic words seem at last to society, in every class, in all countries, he depicted
be realised. " We may wager confidently," he humanity in all its aspects, all its forms : having
wrote, " that in a few years these drawings will have no thought but to express—often despising detail
become precious archives of civilised life. His —the veritable character of men and things,
works will be sought after by the curious, just as their intimate personality. A tireless traveller,
are those by Debucourt, Moreau, Saint-Aubin, he went, pencil in hand, through Bulgaria, Spain,
Carle Vernet, Lami, Deveria, Gavarni, and all the Italy, Egypt, and Algeria. During the Crimean
other exquisite artists, who, though they depicted War he served as correspondent to the " Illustrated
nought but the beautiful, are none the less, in their London News," for which paper he had already
way, serious historians." done a large number of sketches in Paris. With
As for Guys—and this is one of the reasons why that disregard of danger which, according to
his work is so precious—
he appears before us as
indeed one of the most
" serious historians " of the
Second Empire; and his
enormous production re-
vives in the most com-
plete manner all the aspects
of that world and that
period.
Ernestus Hyacinthus
Constantinus Guys was
born at Flushing on De-
cember the 3rd, 1802 ; he
was the son of Elizabeth
Betin and Francois
Lazare Guys, Commissary-
in-Chief of the French
Marine. His family was
of Provengale origin. The
Particulars supplied by "la rencontre" by constantin guys
109
Nadar, the last survivor of
Guys' friends, are succinct
enough. We find that at
twenty he served in the
cavalry. Hence his pro-
found knowledge of the
horse and its rider, of
which his works show so
many signs. Guys stayed
but a short time in the
Army. He toured in Greece
in the train of Lord Byron.
Not till he was about
forty years of age, it
would seem, did Guys, his
memory well stored with
visions of all sorts, begin
to draw and put on paper,
in light rapid sketches
"la promenade au bois" by constantin guys extraordinarily full of life,
the sights that struck his
eyes. In all kinds of
and Baudelaire's prophetic words seem at last to society, in every class, in all countries, he depicted
be realised. " We may wager confidently," he humanity in all its aspects, all its forms : having
wrote, " that in a few years these drawings will have no thought but to express—often despising detail
become precious archives of civilised life. His —the veritable character of men and things,
works will be sought after by the curious, just as their intimate personality. A tireless traveller,
are those by Debucourt, Moreau, Saint-Aubin, he went, pencil in hand, through Bulgaria, Spain,
Carle Vernet, Lami, Deveria, Gavarni, and all the Italy, Egypt, and Algeria. During the Crimean
other exquisite artists, who, though they depicted War he served as correspondent to the " Illustrated
nought but the beautiful, are none the less, in their London News," for which paper he had already
way, serious historians." done a large number of sketches in Paris. With
As for Guys—and this is one of the reasons why that disregard of danger which, according to
his work is so precious—
he appears before us as
indeed one of the most
" serious historians " of the
Second Empire; and his
enormous production re-
vives in the most com-
plete manner all the aspects
of that world and that
period.
Ernestus Hyacinthus
Constantinus Guys was
born at Flushing on De-
cember the 3rd, 1802 ; he
was the son of Elizabeth
Betin and Francois
Lazare Guys, Commissary-
in-Chief of the French
Marine. His family was
of Provengale origin. The
Particulars supplied by "la rencontre" by constantin guys
109