GAVARNI, ge/var'nef (1804-66). A noted French caricaturist and illustrator of great orig inality and verve, an historical satirist of inex haustible inventive power who portrayed types of French character, and in particular the va rious phases of Parisian life. His real name was Guillaume Sulpice Chevallier, and he was born in Paris, January 13, 1804. When a mere boy he was placed with an architect, then at the age of thirteen was apprenticed to a maker of mathematical instruments, and two or three years later studied mechanical drawing at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. This was all the artistic training he ever received. In 1825 he was sent by one of his patrons to• draw and engrave the bridge at Bordeaux, for which he was to receive 1200 francs a year, but finding the employment uncongenial, he threw it up before the year was out, and wandered about. for some months, apparently without aim. By a lucky chance he found a benefactor at Tarbes. in M. Lelen, the superintendent of the Cadastre in the Pyrenees, who gave him employment and made him at home in his family, until an offer of regular work took him back to Paris in 1828. In 1829 he adopted his nom de guerre, derived from the beautiful valley of Gavarnie in the Pyrenees. In 1830 he made the acquaintance of Emile de Girardin, who invited him to make the designs for La Mode, and it was in its office that he met Balzac, who, shortly after, asked him to illustrate his Peau de chagrin. Other papers also had the aid of his pen and pencil, and theatrical tailors and costumers found in him a valuable assistant, but his greatest success was as a satirist of the dandyism of the' day. With the year 1832 the period of uncertainty came an end, and from that date he could count upon an appreciative and faithful public. Two years later he founded the Journal des Gens du Monde, of which he was at once editor and illustrator, and to which he contributed verse and prose, il lustrating both with charming drawings. The undertaking proved unprofitable, and after strug gling through six months of existence, landed its parent in the debtor's prison at Clichy. While, restored to liberty, he was hesitating as to his future course, he received a liberal offer from the proprietor of the Charivari. Modifying the pub
lisher's idea, the artist produced the series of drawings known as "Les fourberies de femmes en matiere de sentiment," which was soon followed by "La bolts aux lettres." Illustrating the Bohemian world in which he lived, series after series flowed from his pencil, all instinct with vivacity and force, and drawn mostly from the shady side of Paris life, like "Les lorettes," "Les coulisses," "Le carnaval," "Les etudiants," "Les ddbardeurs," etc., while later he embodied in other series his studies in superior strata of so ciety, as in the well-known "Les enfants ter ribles," and in "La politique des femmes," "Im pressions de menage," "Nuances et sentiments," and others.
In 1844 he married Jeanne de Bonabry, but the union did not prove happy, and three years later he went to London. He returned in 1852, so deeply impressed by the scenes of degradation and wretchedness he had witnessed that it seemed to color all his future work, and it is said that he never laughed again nor made others laugh. He continued the practice of his art, but his tone was sterner, and his satire became more biting. Sonic of the series of this last period exhibit his tendency to be a moralist, as may be noticed in "Les partageuses," "Les lorettes vieilles," and "Les propos de Thomas Virelogue." During his last years he inclined more and more toward scientific pursuits, and passed most of his time in his garden at Auteuil with his two boys, continually changing its aspect, and never finish ing the new design. He died there, November 24, 1866.
The Catalogue raisonnd de rceuvre de Gavarni, issued by Arinelhaut and Bocher (Paris, 1873), conveys an adequate idea of the extraordinary amount of work performed by this unique prince of the pencil. In the 13ibliatheque Nationale, Paris, his drawings fill fifteen folio volumes. but they represent little more than half of his work. For his biography, consult: Du• plessis (Paris, 1876) ; Goncourt (ib., 1879) ; and Forgues (ib., 1888) ; also Mirecourt, Les con temporains (ib., 1854) ; Beraldi, Les graveurs du XIXeme siecle (ib., 1888) ; and Curtis, Mas ters of Lithography (New York, 1897).