Eugène Alexis Girardet (French pronunciation:[øʒɛnalɛksiʒiʁaʁdɛ]; 31 May 1853 – 5 May 1907) was a French Orientalist painter of Swiss ancestry.
Biography
He came from a Swiss Huguenot family. His father was the engraver Paul Girardet. His siblings, Jules, Léon, Paul Armand, Théodore and Julia Antonine (1851–1921), all became artists. After learning engraving from his father, he studied at the École des Beaux-arts and in the studios of Jean-Léon Gérôme, who encouraged him to visit North Africa in 1874.[1] He also spent some time in Spain.
In all, he made eight trips to Algeria after 1879 (some with Jules and Léon), especially to the south, around the oases of Biskra, El Kantara and Bou Saâda, where he worked with Étienne Dinet.[1] In 1898, he visited Egypt and Palestine, producing many works depicting the lives of desert nomads. Unlike other Orientalists, he produced no harem scenes. Upon returning to France, he became a teacher at the Académie Julian.
Marie Tripet: "Girardet, Eugène-Alexis". In: Carl Brun (Ed.): Schweizerisches Künstler-Lexikon. Vol.1: A–G. Huber & Co., Frauenfeld 1905, pg.582 (Online)
"Girardet, Eugène". In: Ulrich Thieme, Fred. C. Willis (Eds.): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Vol.14: Giddens–Gress. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1921, pg.165 (Online)
(in German) Renate Treydel: Girardet, Eugène. In: Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker (AKL). Band 55, Saur, München u. a. 2007, ISBN978-3-598-22795-0, S. 185
René Burnand, L'étonnante histoire des Girardet : artistes suisses (The Amazing Story of the Girardets...), La Baconnière, Neuchâtel, 1940, 299 p.