Maurice Jaubert de Becque 'Maurice de Becque'

An early twentieth century French etcher, painter and illustrator, Maurice de Becque studied art in Paris and was a regular exhibitor there at the Salon d’Automne.

His finest accomplishments, however, were in the field of the illustrated book, which he adorned with many original etchings. He was commissioned by Paris publishers to illustrate the wide ranging writings of such authors as Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), Daudet, Gautier, Juvenal, Kipling, La Fontaine, Loti, Rimbaud, Stendhal and Villon. De Becque sometimes signed his etched art with the pseudonym, 'Maurice d'Attys'.

Maurice de Becque (1878-1938) Born in Saumur Maurice de Becque moved to Paris where he studied at l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and since 1903 annually exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris.

He was not only a painter, engraver, designer of décors and costumes for l’Opera-Comique and le Théâtre du Chatelet, but is best known as illustrator. Paris editors recognized his talents and asked him to illustrate works including those of P. Adam, Beaudelaire, Daudet, Gautier, Juvénal, V. Blasco Ibanez, comte de Gobineau, Kipling, La Fontaine, Rimbaud, Stendhal, Francois Villon, and Le Roman de Renart.

De Becque also was one of the founding fathers in 1912 of ‘Le Société des Peintres Animalier’. To study and draw exotic animals, he made frequent trips to the Zoo in Antwerp. In 1932 Maurice de Becque settled in Bretagne, where he drew and painted coast- and landscapes and portraits of sailors, which he exhibited in Brest.