SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Emile Benassit

Born in London on 20 December 1833, Louis Émile Benassit studied under John-Lewis Brown, followed by François-Édouard Picot at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. He made his Salon debut in 1859, exhibited there regularly from 1863 to 1888, and became a member of the Société du Salon des artistes français. His career combined drawing in pencil and engraving with painting: according to the biography devoted to him, he later turned to painting with a brush and produced more than four hundred paintings. He also contributed regularly to the illustrated satirical journal La Lune and, in 1862, published the lithographic series La Boisson with Bertauts in Paris.

Book illustration formed another part of his activity. In 1866, he made twenty-five etchings for Alfred Delvau’s Les Heures parisiennes, published by Damase Jouaust; in 1875, he supplied twenty-four original watercolours for Laurence Sterne’s Voyage sentimental à travers la France et l’Italie, published by the Librairie des Bibliophiles. He also illustrated Les Petites Comédies du vice by Eugène Chavette and Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard, Anatole France’s first novel. An illustration for Chavette’s book, dated 1874, is recorded at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

During the siege of Paris in 1870, Benassit served in the 61st Battalion of the National Guard, based in Montmartre. Several works cited in public collections attest to the range of techniques he practised: the lithograph L’Absinthe ! (1862) is recorded at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, while the watercolour Soldats et cantinière aux fortifications en 1871 is held at the Musée Carnavalet. From 1882, progressive paralysis of his hand obliged him to learn to paint with his left hand.

This profile brings together identity references for Emile Benassit and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

1 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.

Works recorded at auction

Dobiaschofsky

Deadly pursuit

Oil on wood

Original catalogue wording

Tödliche Verfolgung.
Öl auf Holz

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

View the lot at the auction house ↗

Sources and references

• Reference record
• AGORHA · Reference link only; no institutional text or image copied.
• LoC · Public domain (id.loc.gov authority metadata; link only)
• Documentary source

SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19