Gavarni, PAUL

Gavarni, PAUL, a French caricaturist whose proper name was Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier, was born at Paris in 1801, and started life as a mechanical engineer. But, being a skilful draughtsman, he abandoned engine-making to become a caricaturist for Les gens du Monde, and afterwards for Le Charivari. During the early part of his career he ridiculed the follies, vices, and habits of the citizens of Paris with a sort of good-humoured irony; but later in life a deeper earnestness, and sometimes even bitterness, showed itself in the productions of his pencil. This tendency was greatly strengthened by a visit to London in 1849, and from that date he reproduced in the newspaper L'Illustration the scenes of misery and degradation he had witnessed in the English capital. Gavarni also illustrated several books, the most notable being Sue's Juif Errant, Balzac's works, the French translation of Hoffmann's tales, &c. He died at Auteuil, near Paris, 23d November 1866. A collection of his drawings, engraved on wood, appeared at Paris, under the title of Œuvres Choisies, with text by Janin, Gautier, Balzac, and others (4 vols. 1845-48). This was followed by a second collection, Perles et Parures (2 vols. 1850).