FICHEL, BENJAMIN-EUGÈNE:
French painter; born in Paris Aug. 30, 1826; died there Feb. 7, 1895. After essaying historical painting he turned his attention to producing small genre pictures in the style of Meissonier, though he was a pupil of Paul Delaroche. These he executed with great skill in technique, historic correctness of costume being a characteristic feature of his compositions. He received the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1870. Some of his genre paintings were exhibited in Munich in 1879. "L'Arrivée à l'Auberge," one of his best works, has been since 1863 in the possession of the Luxembourg museum at Paris; "La Joueuse de Luth" is in the Stettin museum. Other works: "Le Numismate"; "Le Joueur du Violon"; "Une Fête Foraine en 1776"; "La Capture d'un Espion"; "Le Savetier et le Banquier"; "La Belle Marchande"; "Une Partie d'Echecs"; "Chanteurs Ambulants"; "Le Rapport au Général"; "La Dernière Acquisition du Maître." Among his historical genre paintings may be named: "Le Duc de Choiseul chez l'Abbé Barthélemy"; "La Nuit du 24 Août 1572"; "Fondation de l'Académie Française"; "Bonaparte et Eugène Beauharnais"; "Daubenton dans Son Laboratoire"; "Lacépède Ecrivant l'Histoire des Poissons."
Fichel's wife, née Jeanne Samson, a pupil of her husband, has exhibited at the Salon since 1878.
- Singer, Künstler-Lex. vol. i., s.v.;
- Larousse, Dict. 1st Supplement, p. 817;
- 2d Supplement, p. 1248.
