Paris, February 6, 1800 – Paris, December 23, 1857
Achille Devéria was a French painter, draughtsman, and lithographer. Born to a naval civil engineer, he studied under the guidance of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson and Louis Lafitte. In 1822, Devéria began exhibiting at the Paris Salon, where he and his brother Eugène, also an artist, found great success and helped to spark the emergence of Romanticism. Their studio became a meeting place for prominent writers and artists of the era, including Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve, forming a core group of the Romantic movement.
Unlike his brother’s more elaborate style, Achille focused on lithography, producing a series of portraits that captured the fashions and personalities of his time, particularly female figures. His portraits include notable figures like Alexandre Dumas, Sir Walter Scott, David, Alfred de Musset, Sainte-Beuve, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, and Franz Liszt. He was also a distinguished illustrator for works by authors such as Racine, Molière, and Rabelais.
In 1849, Devéria was appointed curator of the Cabinet of Prints at the Louvre, director at the National Library, and curator of the Egyptian department at the Louvre Museum. These roles temporarily diverted him from his artistic work. In his later years, he traveled to Egypt, where he collected images and manuscripts.
Devéria’s works are held in prestigious collections, including the Louvre, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, and the University of Liège. He also taught his son, Théodule, the art of lithography and painting. Among his notable students was Louis Victor Aclocque de Saint-André.
