Victor Florence Pollet

Victor Florence Pollet (1811–1882) was a French history painter, watercolourist, and burin engraver.

Life Victor Pollet was born in Paris on 22 November 1811. His brother A. Pollet was a wood engraver. He had already made a name for himself with a few drawings and engraved vignettes after Tony Johannot, Chenavard and Émile Wattier, as well as the plates of an Imitation de Jésus-Christ ('Imitation of Jesus Christ'), published in 1836.

Around 1849, he took up the chisel again and produced a series of engravings from famous paintings: the Jeanne d'Arc ('Joan of Arc') of Ingres, and the Bonaparte en Italie ('Bonaparte in Italy') of Raffet, among others. The Exposition Universelle of 1855 consecrated its fame. He also engraved the Mur de Salomon ('Wall of Solomon'), after Bida, in 1861.

He exhibited Lydée, a watercolour, at the Salon of 1865. His other paintings include: L'innocence ('Innocence'), 1866; La Bacchante ('The Bacchante'), 1867; La Sieste et le Bain ('The Siesta and the Bath'), 1868; Paresse ('Sloth'), 1872; and Le Songe d'une fille d'Eve ('The Dream of a Daughter of Eve'), 1873.

Pollet received several awards at the Paris Salon as a painter and engraver and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1855. He died in Mayenne, Mayenne on 11 December 1882, aged 71.

Collections

Teylers Museum: Les Papillons ('The Butterflies'), watercolour.

Honours