Constantine Guys

Biography

Ernest-Adolphe Guys de Saint-Hélène, known as Constantin Guys, was a French draftsman and painter, born on December 3, 1802 in Flushing (Netherlands) and died on March 13, 1892 in Paris. Coming from a family from La Ciotat, he was the son of François-Lazare Guys, vice-consul of France. At only 19 years old, he embarked in 1821 on a Danish ship to participate in the Greek War of Independence. After surviving the disaster of Peta in 1822, he returned to France, where he was held by the police until February 1823 because of his involvement. In 1830 he gained prominence as a draughtsman and lithographer, becoming a prolific chronicler of his time. In 1854 and 1855 he travelled to the Crimea and illustrated the events of the Crimean War for The Illustrated London News. He is also the dedicatee of the poem "Parisian Dream" by Charles Baudelaire, who wrote a eulogy to him in "The Painter of Modern Life", an essay that defines the notion of modernity. Constantin Guys died on March 13, 1892 in Paris and is buried in the Parisian cemetery of Pantin in the 14th division.