Emmanuel Phélippes-Beaulieux

1829 Nantes - 1874

Virtually nothing is known about the life and work of Emmanuel Phélippes-Beaulieux, which is surprising in view of the fascination exerted by his surviving works. Le Blanc records a total of seventeen prints by this dilettante draughtsman and etcher, whose artistic endeavours were probably undertaken for his own amusement and evidently remained unknown to the public at large (“Ses productions n’ont pas été mises dans le commerce”, Ch. Le Blanc, Manuel de l’Amateur d’Estampes, II, pp. 187-188). In their originality of imagination and eccentric technical treatment his graphic works show certain similarities to the printed oeuvre of Rodolphe Bresdin (1822 -1885), whose work also remained largely unknown until decades after his death.