Jean-Jacques Champin

Jean-Jacques Champin (8 September 1796, Sceaux - 25 February 1860, Paris) was a French painter, watercolorist and lithographer.

[1] He focused on historical landscapes, however and, to this end, took numerous trips to the Chartreuse Mountains (1823), the Pyrénées (1825) and Italy (1830).

During this period, he was introduced to the literary salon at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, where he became friends with many leading artists and writers; including David d'Angers, who would create a medal with his profile, and Charles Nodier, who wrote the preface to Habitations....[1] In 1835 Céleste died.

Two years later, he married Élisa Honorine Petiet, a watercolorist and lithographer who specialized in floral still-lifes,[3] and they had a daughter in 1840.

Much of their time was spent visiting the estate of Napoléon Mortier de Trévise [fr] in Sceaux, where she worked on her paintings and he developed an interest in depicting the railroad that was being constructed through that area.