author
comte Henri Delaborde
1811–1899
A French painter who became an influential art critic and museum figure, he helped shape how 19th-century France studied prints and fine art. His career moved from making historical paintings to preserving, writing about, and organizing art at the highest level.
1 Audiobook
Engraving: Its Origin, Processes, and History
by comte Henri Delaborde
About the author
Born in Rennes in 1811, Henri Delaborde was the son of General Henri-François Delaborde. He trained as an artist in Paris with Paul Delaroche and first built his reputation as a painter of historical subjects.
Over time, he became even better known as a critic, curator, and scholar of art. He served at the Cabinet des estampes of the Bibliothèque nationale, where he was recognized as an important authority on prints, and he also wrote on major artists including Ingres and Raphael.
Delaborde later became a member of the Académie des beaux-arts and served as its permanent secretary. He died in Paris in 1899, remembered not only for his own paintings but for the role he played in documenting, interpreting, and safeguarding French artistic culture.