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Charles Louis Gratia (9 November 1815 – 11 August 1911) was a French painter best known as a pastel artist. He became well-known for his portraits during the July Monarchy (1830–48), but after the fall of the monarchy moved to London, England in 1850. After struggling at first, since he was foreign and pastel was an unfamiliar medium, he became recognized and made portraits of many prominent people including Queen Victoria. He returned to France in 1867, and continued to submit work to the Paris Salon until 1895. In his last years he was unable to compete with photography and with the Impressionist painters, and died in poverty. ==Early years== Charles Louis Gratia was born on 9 November 1815 in Rambervillers, Vosges. His father had settled there after serving in the navy during the First French Empire. He moved to Paris with his family when he was nine years old. His father obtained a position with the Chamber of Peers in the Luxembourg Palace, where he lived for several years. At the age of thirteen he became a pupil of the painter Henri Decaisne, who foresaw a brilliant future for him. Gratia painted in oils but specialized in pastels, in which he became a master, although he struggled to earn a living at first. Gratia married when he was twenty, a move that he later said hindered his career. He exhibited for the first time in the Salon of 1837, when he was twenty-two. He was praised for his pastel portrait of the dramatist Prosper Gothi. He later exhibited portraits of Mayer Schnerb (1840); Esther de Beauregard (1841); La Boisgontier (1844); the Comte d'Eu and the Comtesse de Solms, born Laetitia Bonaparte. His 1844 full-length portrait of La Boisgontier in pastel on paper earned him his first prize, a 3rd medal. Two years later he won a 2nd medal. He associated with illustrious people of the time such as Victor Hugo, Alphonse de Lamartine and Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, and was a friend of the actor and playwright Frédérick Lemaître. He made portraits of the children of King Louis Philippe I. In March 1843 Alphonse Brot wrote to Théophile Gautier asking him to take a look at his friend Gratia's ''Portrait d'Esther'' in the Salon. Mlle Esther was a variety theater artist. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charles Louis Gratia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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