Félix Bracquemond

The engraver and designer F233;lix Bracquemond made his name by decorating a dinner service, the first to use motifs from Japanese prints. The birds, fishes and plants depicted on the service and also often been seen in his engravings. In his own time he was the best known as an 'animalier', an engraver of animals. Braquemond was intrested in both decorative art and engraving, especially in new techniques such as the colour etching. He was often consulted by contemporaries such as Degas, Manet, Gauguin and Rodin about technical problems, as a result of which he played a central role in the development and success of engraving and decorative art in the second half of the 19th century in France.