Charles-Raphaël Maréchal

Charles-Raphaël Maréchal (1818–1888) was a French painter of the nineteenth century.

Maréchal was the son of the glass painter Charles-Laurent Maréchal. Like his father, he was born in Metz, in 1881. He was trained in charcoal technique from a young age by his father^[1] and pointed toward an artistic career. He exhibited several times at the Salon (the official art exhibition of the prestigious Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris), including in 1868.^[2] In 1872, the City of Metz bought the immense charcoal work Prayer In The Wilderness, which Maréchal had produced for the Metz Exposition of 1861.^[1]

Interested in chemistry, he is credited as co-inventor (with Cyprien Tessié du Motay) of the collotype process.^{[note 1]} Maréchal and du Motay's work won a gold medal at the Paris Exposition of 1867.^[1] Together, Maréchal and du Motay were awarded several patents for processes such as printing on glass windows, producing oxygen for public lighting, and so forth.

Maréchal died in Paris on 8 April 1888.^[1]

Works in the Louvre collection

Maréchal's works in the collection of the Louvre in Paris are:^[3]

• "The Emperor and Empress, In Their Wisdom and Might, Demonstrate the Grand Designs That Will Cover the Reign of Napoleon III in Glory" (oil on canvas)
• "Presentation of the Tuileries design to Catherine de Medici" (oil on canvas)
• "Presentation to Henry IV of the waterfront gallery" (oil on canvas)
• "Presentation to Louis XIV of the Louvre colonnade" (oil on canvas)
• "Presentation to Francis I of the original draft of the Louvre" (oil on canvas)