Auguste-Gaspard-Louis BOUCHER-DESNOYERS
Paris 1779 - Paris 1857
Biography
One of the leading engravers in France in the first half of the 19th century, Auguste Boucher-Desnoyers was trained as an engineer but devoted much of his spare time to drawing and engraving. At the age of twelve he entered the studio of the neoclassical painter Guillaume Guillon-Lethière and was also trained in printmaking by Louis Darcis. By 1796 Boucher-Desnoyers had earned a reputation as a gifted reproductive engraver, winning a prize of 2,000 francs for an engraving that he exhibited at the Salon of 1799. He continued to win prizes and honours for his engravings after works in the Louvre by such artists as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, as well as paintings by Robert Léfevre and Baron Gérard. In 1816 he was elected to the Institut and in 1825 was appointed engraver to the King; three years later he was ennobled as a Baron. During the last decade of his life, Boucher-Desnoyers, suffering from age and poor eyesight, worked very little.
