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Louis Jacquesson, De la Chevreuse
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Jacquesson de la Chevreuse's main claim to fame seems to be that he quickly recognised Jean Louis Forain's potential at the Louvre one afternoon -and that he did something about it.
A painter of historical pictures in the manner of Paul Delaroche, his beautiful-sounding name is a far cry from that of his ancestor, an English squire called Jackson, who left the country of his birth in order to follow James II to France.
One day when it was raining hard, M. Jacquesson de la Chevreuse, who had noticed Forain inthe museum, offered to share his umbrella with the lad as they both happened to be leaving at the same moment. Jean-Louis confessed that he wanted to become an artist but that as it was against his family's wishes, he really did not know what to do. The older man was intrigued; he went home with the boy, examined his drawings, and persuaded the parents to allow him to instruct their son in 'les principes de mon art'. For nearly a year Jean-Louis worked in his studio. He was forbidden to draw upon tinted paper or to heighten any drawing with white. 'Plus tard, plus tard, quand tu peindras . . .' he was told.
Each morning early the artist, with Jean-Louis at his side, could be seen walking—a bus ride was never allowed—to hear Mass in one or other of Paris' forty basilicas, for being a man of great faith M. Jacquesson de la Chevreuse solicited the aid of the Almighty before he would begin his day's work. However, the time came when the kind but strict disciplinarian was so mortified by his pupil's behaviour that he made some family concern a reason for parting. He had always implored Jean-Louis to hold on to his faith and to avoid all bad company but when the latter confided this to his student pals, they teased the life out of him and from sheer devilry dragged him off to places of whose existence the innocent had not even been aware. This got to the master's ears and heralded the end of their relationship.
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Text excerpted from:
Browse, Lillian. Forain; The Painter 1825-1931. Elek, London, 1978.
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