Hugues Merle | |
|---|---|
 The First Thorns of Knowledge (Les premières épines de la science), 1864, Dallas Museum of Art | |
| Born | April 28, 1822 La Sône, France |
| Died | 1881 (aged 58–59) |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Painting |
| Children | Georges Merle |
Hugues Merle (1822–1881) was a French painter who mostly depicted sentimental or moral subjects. He has often been compared to William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
Hugues Merle was born in 1822 in La Sône.[1] He studied painting with Léon Cogniet. Merle started exhibiting at the Salon (Paris) in 1847. He received second class prizes in 1861 and 1863.[2] In 1866 he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
Hugues Merle became a friend of Paul Durand-Ruel in the early 1860s. Durand-Ruel had started buying paintings by Merle in 1862 and introduced the artist to painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau.[3] Merle was later often compared to Bouguereau and “became a considerable rival of Bouguereau in subject and treatment”.[4] In the mid-1860s, Merle painted several portraits of Paul Durand-Ruel, his wife, and their son, John.
Hugues Merle died in 1881 in Paris. His son Georges Merle also became a painter.[5]
David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks TV series character the Log Lady resembles Hugues Merle's painting The Lunatic of Étretat (1871).[6]
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