Pierre-Georges Jeanniot Le Rire No.79 Belle Epoque Illustration

Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (1848–1934)

Born in Geneva to French parents, Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (1848–1934) was the son of the wealthy director of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Dijon. He began his career as an infantry officer, but spent his spare time painting and drawing, and was encouraged by Manet and Degas, the former reportedly saying ‘My friend, you are one of us.' Although he was first known for military subjects, he was highly receptive to Impressionism and soon began specialising in elegant Parisian genre scenes. He exhibited regularly at the Salons of the Société des Artistes Français in Paris and the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, as well as at the Munich Secession between 1893 and 1903.

Jeanniot developed a close friendship with Edgar Degas, who was a frequent guest at Jeanniot’s estate, Dienay près Is-sur-Tille in the Cote d'Or region of Burgundy. It was during a visit in 1892 that Degas borrowed Jeanniot's printing press and made his first landscape monographs in oil paint.

Jeanniot worked extensively as an illustrator, working on more than thirty books between 1884 and his death, including works by Maupassant, Zola, Molière and Balzac. He also collaborated on contemporary publications such as La Vie Moderne and later directed the Journal amusant. Shortly after his death in 1934, a retrospective exhibition was held at the Galerie Georges Charpentier in Paris. Today his works can be found in the collections of the British Museum, National Gallery of Art Washington and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as numerous public collections in France amongst others.