Henry Monnier

After studying at the Lycée Bonaparte, he frequented the workshops of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson and Antoine-Jean Gros.

Between 1827 and 1832, he produced several albums of lithographs, satirising the mores and physiognomies of his contemporaries and of the "grisettes" (or louche young men) in his office.

He created the character Monsieur Prudhomme, of whom Balzac said was the "illustration of the type of the Parisian middle-class" and who inspired the poem of that title in Paul Verlaine's Poèmes saturniens.

He was the author of the famous phrase - On devrait construire les villes à la campagne, l’air y est tellement plus pur !

[2] In 1931 Sacha Guitry created a play freely inspired by Monnier's life, entitled Monsieur Prudhomme a-t-il vécu ?.

Henry Monnier playing the part of Monsieur Prudhomme (c. 1875), photograph by Étienne Carjat
Games Lithography , 1830