Yan' Dargent

Jean-Édouard Dargent known as Yan' Dargent and in his later years Yann Dargent, was born in Saint-Servais on 15 October 1824 and died in Paris on 19 November 1899. He was a French painter and illustrator. Most of his paintings depicted Brittany.

Édouard Yan’ Dargent was born on the 15 October 1824 at Saint-Servais situated between Landerneau and Landivisiau. His father Claude Dargent had come from Lorraine and was a tanner. His mother Marguerite Perrine Clémentine Robée was the daughter of Pierre Robée. Claude had become the mayor at the time of the July Monarchy. Yani's mother died when he was only two years of age and his father soon remarried and Dargent was put in the care of his maternal grandfather Pierre Robée, a retired sailor. He was educated at Plouaret at a school where his uncle Thomas, an ex-chouan, was schoolmaster. He received a basic education alongside François-Marie Luzel, the Breton poet, who was also a good friend. He then attended the Landerneau Saint-Joseph college until, at the age of twelve, he moved to Saint-Pol-de-Léon's Notre-Dame du Kreizker Institute. After his schooldays he rejoined his father who had moved to Landerneau being unable to set-up his tannery in Morlaix. When the time came to choose a career, Yan' Dargent's grandfather wanted him to join the navy but Yani' did not feel the pull of the sea, being mostly interested in mathematics and design. He successfully passed his exams and was admitted to the government department administrating bridges and highways and then moved to the railways. In 1846, he was in Troyes as a works inspector for the construction of the railway when he met a professor called Jules-Nicolas Schitz who recognized Dargent's aptitude for drawing and the two made trips into the countryside to sketch (Dargent never attended an art college and was self-taught). In 1850, he resigned from his job with the railways and moved to Paris determined to make a living from art but independently and not attached to any particular studio/workshop ("atelier") and, alongside Gustave Doré, became known as an accomplished illustrator. His output as an illustrator over the years was prolific. Many of his illustrations appeared in "La France illustrée" as well as "Le Tour du Monde" a travel magazine edited by Edouard Charton and published by Hachette et Cie, "La Chasse illustrée" published by Firmin Didot et Cie, the "L'Exposition universelle illustrée de 1867" published by Dueuing and "Le Korrigan", a Breton artistic journal In Paris. He worked tirelessly and in 1851, and for the next ten years, exhibited every year at the Paris Salon. His 1851 works were "le Retour" and "les Baigneuses". Success finally came in 1861 when he exhibited four canvases, "Les Lavandières de la nuit", "Souvenir de collège", "Les Pilleurs de Mer à Guissény" and "Pâtres des plaines de Kerlouan". "Lavandières de la nuit" was particularly singled out for praise, particularly by Théophile Gautier. This painting can be seen at the Musée des beaux-arts in Quimper. Although this did not lead to any further immediate success, Dargent, encouraged by his friend and rival Gustave Doré, applied himself to book illustration which brought in a greater income than his paintings, and worked on illustrations for magazines such as "Magasin pittoresque", "Musée des familles", "La vie à la campagne" and "La France illustrée". At this time he had a villa built near to Saint-Pol-de-Léon at Créac'h-André, a spot where he had often walked whilst a schoolboy. On 3 July 1867, he married Eugénie Antoinette Stéphanie Mathieu, a musician and the daughter of the painter Eugène Mathieu a director of the "La France illustrée". Then between 1869 and 1878,he was commissioned to contribute to the decoration of several churches in Saint-Servais, Landerneau, Morlaix, Ploudalmézeau and the Quimper cathedral of Saint-Corentin. His work at the cathedral which involved painting murals for all the lateral chapels took him seven years. Other works include the canvas "la Petite Roscovite" which hangs in the Saint-Pol-de-Léon mairie. In February 1877 he was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In 1898 when the Union régionaliste bretonne was established he became the first president of the Breton Beaux-Arts. Towards the end of his life he had some financial problems but was supported by his son. He died on the 19 November 1899 seemingly from a pulmonary embolism and is buried in Saint-Servais. See section on Dargent's tomb and the litigation which followed his burial.

...
Wikipedia