Rajon, PAUL ADOLPHE

Rajon, PAUL ADOLPHE, an etcher, was born at Dijon in 1842, and trained in Paris, partly at the School of Fine Arts. About 1865 he turned to etching, and gained immediate success with his first plate, 'Rembrandt at Work,' after Meissonier. Standing in the front rank of French etchers, he won several medals at the Salon exhibitions, and produced numerous beautiful etched portraits and plates for books. In 1872 he visited England, and published in London in 1873 a portrait of J. S. Mill after Watts, as well as in subsequent years many other plates. His greatest achievements were 'The Emperor Claudius,' a picture by Alma Tadema, the portrait of Darwin by Oules, and those of Tennyson, Joachim, and Mrs Anderson Rose by Watts. He died at Auvers-sur-Oise on 8th June 1888. See Twelve Etchings by P. A. Rajon, with Memoir by F. G. Stephens (1889).