Guide to the Papers of Charles Meryon (as filmed by the AJCP), 1818-1892

Summary

Collection number:

M595

Creator:

Meryon, Charles

Extent:

2 items

Language:

French and French

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321 )

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

The material filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project includes: letters covering Meryon's schooling, English lessons, reading, his interest in a naval career, the death of his mother, his naval service, attendance at the Naval School at Brest, friends, his life at Toulon, experiences in the navy, travels including to New Zealand, financial difficulties, training and artwork, ideas for a novel, experiences during the 1848 Paris revolution, his illnesses and internment at the asylum at Charenton St Maurice (1858-59) and various sketches.

Biographical / Historical:

Charles Meryon (1821-1868) was born in Paris, the illegitimate son of Charles Lewis Meryon (1783-1877), an English doctor, traveller and author, and Pierre-Narcisse Chapoux (1793-1838), a dancer at the Paris Opera. His half-sister was Fanny Lowther (1818-1890), who eventually married Henry Broadwood and lived in England. Meryon was brought up by his mother and educated at Paris and Marseilles.

Narcisse Chapoux died in 1838, by which time Meryon had entered the Naval School at Brest. He subsequently served in the Mediterranean on the ships Alger, Montebello and Inflexible. In 1842 he joined the corvette Le Rhin on its voyage round the world. In January 1843 the ship reached Akarao, the small French settlement in New Zealand, where it spent lengthy periods during the next two years. Visits were also made to Auckland, Wellington, the Bay of Islands, Valparaiso, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Wallis Island, the Gilbert Islands and New Caledonia. In New Zealand Meryon made a number of drawings of coastal scenery, landscapes, natural history, canoes and Maori profiles. Le Rhin also called at Hobart on its way to New Zealand and twice visited Sydney, where Meryon made a drawing of a pet dingo, a portrait of an Indigenous Australians, and a view of Sydney Harbour. Some of the drawings were later to be the subject of etchings.

In 1846, following his return to France, Meryon resigned from the Navy and announced his intention of becoming a professional artist. He took painting lessons, but within a few years colour blindness forced him to abandon oil painting. One of his teachers, Renier Zeeman, transformed him into an etcher and he soon showed an extraordinary ability. His famous series of 22 etchings of Paris appeared between 1851 and 1854. While little known in his lifetime, they placed him among the greatest original etchers.

Meryon was a man of brooding temperament and strange visions and in the 1850s he became increasingly unsociable and mentally unbalanced. In 1858 he was removed to an asylum at Charenton Saint Maurice. He was released after fifteen months, but was never well again. Although assisted financially by his sister and supported by several loyal friends, he lived in wretched conditions. In 1866 he was re-admitted to Charenton, where he died in 1868.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn668351] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

British Library, 96 Euston Road, London. Collection Reference: Add MS 37015-MS 37016. For further information search the Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue at the British Library. Charles Meryon at the British Library (http://hviewer.bl.uk/IamsHViewer/Default.aspx?mdark=ark:/81055/vdc_100000001047.0x00022b)

Conditions Governing Access:

Available for access.

Conditions Governing Use:

Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the British Library. For more information visit: How I use the images I order?-The British Library [https://www.bl.uk/help/how-can-i-use-the-images-i-order].

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321 )

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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