Louis Ménard

Turning to chemistry, he discovered collodion in 1846, but its value was not recognized at the time; and its application later to surgery and photography brought him no advantage.

Until 1860 he occupied himself with classical studies, the fruits of which are to be seen in his Poèmes (1855), Polythéisme hellénique (1863), and two academic theses, De sacra poesi graecorum and La Morale avant les philosophes (1860).

The next ten years Ménard spent chiefly among the Barbizon artists, and he exhibited several pictures.

A free-thinker and critic of both Christianity and attempts to overcome religion through reason and science, Ménard described his religious views as "mystical paganism", which he expounded through his poetry and prose works.

With his neopaganism and hellenism, which was similar to what earlier had been expressed by Gérard de Nerval, he had an impact on the Parnassian movement of poetry.