Edouard Girardet

Edouard-Henri Girardet (Le Locle, 1819 – Versailles, 1880) was a painter and engraver born in Switzerland who worked mainly in France. Son of the engraver Charles Samuel Girardet, he trained within his family's circle and in Paris, where in the mid-1830s he produced drawings for Les Galeries Historiques de Versailles and took painting lessons from his brother Karl. Louis Léopold Robert is listed among his pupils.

In 1839 he returned to Switzerland and painted scenes of the Bernese Oberland, the start of a long series of rural genre pictures. In 1842 he travelled with Karl to Egypt, where he made some Orientalist works. After settling in Brienz and marrying there in 1845, the growing family pushed him from 1855 toward reproductive engraving for the art dealer Adolphe Goupil, a commission Karl helped secure. In 1857 he moved back to Paris and engraved works by Paul Delaroche, Horace Vernet and Jean-Léon Gérôme. In 1866 he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour.

From the mid-1870s he returned to painting, making long trips to Brittany, Italy and North Africa to find subjects. His paintings include Bear Hunting, A Lively Village Scene and The Defender of the Crown. His sons Henri, Pierre, Robert and Max also became artists.