page_title: Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois / Biography
caption_attribution_description: Seductive Death
context_page_description: Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois was a celebrated French painter, draftsman, engraver and writer.
  He became known as the "Norman Callot".
  He taught both his daughter Espérance Langlois and his son Polyclès Langlois and they often assisted him with drawings and engravings.
context_section_description: Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois was born at Pont de l'Arche in Normandy on 3 August 1777.  
  His father, André-Girard Langlois, was an advisor to the king and Master of Forestry.
  Although he showed early interest in art, Eustache-Hyacinthe seemed destined for a career in the administration.
  However, the French Revolution broke out on 1789 and his father was forced to emigrate to escape lawsuits. 
  Langlois was imprisoned, but was released through the intervention of Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure.
  In 1793 he began to study art at the École de Mars in Paris under the painter Jacques-Louis David.
  In 1794 he was conscripted into the army, but managed to obtain his freedom with the help of friends and received his final discharge from Napoleon's wife Joséphine de Beauharnais.
  In 1798 he became a pupil of Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier, but there was friction between master and pupil and he returned to David.
  In 1806 Langlois was forced to return to his place of birth, Pont-de-l'Arche, living there in obscurity for the next ten years.
  In 1816 he moved to Rouen, a large city by the standards of the time, where he hoped to find work as an artist to support his wife and seven children.
  At first they had very little money and lived in a slum room in extreme poverty. 
  Surrounded by buildings and ruins from the Middle Ages, Langlois became a prolific creator of drawings in the gothic style, depicting the supernatural world of devils and sorcerers based on ancient legends and embellished by his imagination. He managed to scrape a living from sale of these works.
  Langlois devoted himself to the study and preservation of his Norman heritage, and gradually became well known for his writings and illustrations on historical subjects.
  He was actively involved in almost all publications in Rouen.
  In 1824 he was named a member of the Rouen Academy, and began teaching art to young students. 
  By 1825 he was a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, based in Caen, a member of the Royal Academy of Science, Belles-letters and Arts of Rouen and a correspondent of the Society of Agriculture, Science and Arts of the department of l'Eure.
  In 1827 the Duchess of Berry visited Rouen and he was assigned to act as her guide to the monuments of the city. The princess was impressed by his knowledge and spirit.
  Through her influence, the next year he obtained the position of professor of drawing at Rouen's municipal school of art. 
  His pupils included Célestin Nanteuil, Frédéric Legrip and Gustave Flaubert.
  In 1830 he became a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and in 1833 was appointed president of the Société d’émulation de Rouen.
  He was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1835.
  In 1837 he became head of the Rouen museum of antiquities.
  He died on 29 September 1837 at the age of 60.
caption: Seductive death by Langlois
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