Eustache Hyacinthe Langlois

Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois
Monument of Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois in his native town of Pont-de-l'Arche
Born	3 August 1777 Pont de l'Arche
Died	29 September 1837(1837-09-29) (aged 60) Rouen
Nationality	French
Occupation	Artist and author

Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois (3 August 1777 – 29 September 1837) 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.

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.